Germany's Government Finally Collapses: What Next?

In this video we’re going to explain why the coalition government in Germany is fighting (again), why Scholz has opted for an early election, and what might happen next.

Our mission is to explain news and politics in an impartial, efficient, and accessible way, balancing import and interest while fostering independent thought.

TLDR is a completely independent & privately owned media company that's not afraid to tackle the issues we think are most important. The channel is run by a small group of young people, with us hoping to pass on our enthusiasm for politics to other young people. We are primarily fan sourced with most of our funding coming from donations and ad revenue. No shady corporations, no one telling us what to say. We can't wait to grow further and help more people get informed. Help support us by subscribing, engaging and sharing. Thanks!

SOURCES:

Polling:

Germany’s struggling economy:

Coalition budget feud:

Lindner proposals:

Crisis talks and collapse:

[umbra]

The most stupid thing about all of this is that while almost nobody in germany wants Scholz to remain in office, according to recent opinion surveys only 40% of germans think of Merz as a good alternative with 50% not wanting him as chancellor either. It really sucks to be left with the choice between those two guys as the most likely candidates

[Arthur-lqix]

For outsiders, this is really quite unprecedented in German politics. For a chancellor to sack a finance minister and then go immediately before the press and publicly call them out (pretty brutally) on the reasons why is something that has never happened before. I was actually shook. And now, the minority government is under intense pressure to call an immediate vote of confidence (and therefore a snap election as soon as possible in January). Constitutionally, it'll be interesting to see how this tension plays out. These are uncharted waters for Germany.

[andrew-adairsaunders]

Small mistake: You said that Olaf Scholz would call a vote of no confidence on January 15th. That is not correct. Under §67 of the Grundgesetz, a vote of no confidence can only be tabled, if there is a successor lined, also democratically voted. Otherwise the current Chancellor would remain in office, even if the no confidence vote goes through.

What you are referring to, is the confidence vote under §68. With which that he is expected to get no confidence from the Bundestag, the chancellor can consult the president to dissolve the Bundestag, making way for new federal elections.

Sorry for being nitpicky here, but under the current constitution there is a distinct difference between a confidence vote and a vote of no confidence.

[rangered_]

We are truly in a harsh, strange, and very dramatic timeline..

[thesaiyan]

Why does it feel like a government falls every other day?

[paul_wczrk]

Small Correction (3:44): Otto Graf Lambsdorff whose letter ended the chancellorship of Helmut Schmidt in 1982, was NOT Finance Minister. He was Minister of Economics, which is quite a big difference in competencies in Germany.

[jannoottenburghs]

2 months of negotiation is long??

That is nothing compared to the Netherlands or my Belgium

[sciencer]

Two things to add that are interesting:
1. Of the four FDP ministers only three were fired, because the minister of traffic Volker Wissing opted to stay in government and leave his party, which has opened up speculation about more FDP politicians leaving
2. If you were wondering why the government has not entirely collapsed and new elections are dependent on Scholz, it’s because Germany uses a system called „constructive vote of no confidence“, which means that the opposition can only topple a chancellor if any MP can replace him by gathering a majority, which Merz can’t do without the support of the AfD which is likely to earn massive backlash before the election. Only the Chancellor can call a vote of no confidence that if failed results in the president dissolving parliament and calling new elections, which have to take place at least two months after the vote of no confidence.

[pandoranbias]

You can't be a European nation that's anti-nuclear and carbon-neutral at the same time and still hope to be an industrial powerhouse. Cheap energy is arguably the most important thing for building powerful industry.

[romano-britishmedli]

Yeees, I was looking forward to your video about our government.
It's basically unprecedented in German history after WW2: This coalition was arguing for 3 years, was historically unpopular and now faced a historic end.
A friend of mine once put it this way: This coalition is a coalition of parties with very different (or outright opposing) viewpoints. It might've worked in peaceful and calm times, but not in troubled times of war and instability.

[Squizie]

"It took two months of intense negotiations before an agreement was struck, which sort of foreshadows the challenges the government would go ahead to face." My Belgian mind: "So, light speed?"
Currently we're at 152 days of coalition talks that are still going nowhere, after the election results "shuffled the cards particularly easy". Previous times took 494 days, 193 days, and our personal (world) record of 541 days. Is 60 days really considered long in other multi party system countries?

[LucasVieira-czkq]

As a Braziilian, I couldn't help but to giggle everytime you mention FDP
It's short for "motherf*cker" in Portuguese, which fits in the video in quite a funny way 😂

[richardyong]

It's a miracle they managed to last this long given how incompatible the fdp is with the spd

[floriankaufmann]

Note:
There is no vote of no confidence in Germany, the only way to dismiss a chancellor is by electing a new one (constructive vote of no confidence).
What Scholz will now do is ask the Federal Diet the „Question of Confidence“, basically he asks them if they trust him, rather than anyone wanting to declare that they don’t have confidence in him.
He basically asks this question to lose it on purpose so there can be snap elections.

[swiftlymurmurs]

Looks like our neighbors are in much the same boat as we here in the Netherlands. Our government is also built on the shakiest of coalitions with ministers regularly and openly disagreeing on key issues and admitting to having no idea what their colleagues -even within the same party- are doing. Frankly, everyone's holding out for that government to fall very soon.

[WatchTV-srqv]

as Polish citizen I wish them ALL THE BEST...

[AdmiralSpaceballs]

For those who maybe wondering : solidarity tax (Solidaritätszuschlag in German) is 5.5% tax on the income on top of your income tax, the reason was German unification back in the 90s

[XMehrooz]

Now for a fiery orator from Austria to come to Germany and establish his presence with the hindu symbol of peace and prosperity to lead their people.

[diegoyuiop]

Even if the CDU/CSU wins they'll have to form a government with either SPD or the Greens, so won't both sides still be unsatisfied with that?

[JeffreyRGriese]

>mentions an anti-incumbent trend
>hardly discusses the AfD or BSW