German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has dismissed Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann and Education and Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Report informs via TASS.
All three officials represent the Free Democratic Party (FDP). The German head of state presented them with their dismissal certificates and thanked them for their service. Jorg Kukies, State Secretary of the Federal Chancellor's Office, will assume Lindner's duties, while Minister for Transport Volker Wissing will take over as head of the Ministry of Justice. They received the respective certificates from President Steinmeier during the event broadcast by the NTV channel.
According to Der Spiegel, the current Minister of Food and Agriculture Cem Ozdemir of the Greens will also lead the Ministry of Education and Research until the next elections.
On November 6, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided to send Finance Minister Lindner into retirement. Scholz also announced that he would call for a vote of confidence in his government in the Bundestag early next year, with early parliamentary elections likely to take place before the end of March 2025.
On November 1, Lindner presented a blueprint for addressing Germany’s economic crisis. In the 18-page document, he proposed measures that contradict the approaches favored by other coalition partners.
Reuters noted that many viewed Lindner’s proposals as a challenge to the multi-billion-dollar investment plan recently introduced by Economy Minister Robert Habeck (The Greens). While Habeck aims to establish a fund to stimulate investment, bypassing Germany’s strict budget spending rules, Lindner advocates for tax cuts to stimulate the economy and the immediate repeal of all new regulations.