Traffic light end - "A strange spectacle. Fortunately, it will soon be over"

WELT Traffic light end - "A strange spectacle. Fortunately, it will soon be over" 33 min. • 3 minutes reading time The breakdown of the traffic light coalition is also causing a stir abroad. International observers do not recognize the country. "With the crisis, Germany seems to be re-enacting an Italian spectacle that no one has ever played in this country before," writes "Corriere della Sera". Traffic light end - "A strange spectacle. Fortunately, it will soon be over" From today, the traffic light will only flash red and green. Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), who was fired by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) after an unprecedented falling out, will receive his dismissal certificate from Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier this afternoon, as will other FDP ministers. A transition phase begins, the length of which is not yet known. The international press commented on the process as follows: "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" (Switzerland) "Olaf Scholz remains true to himself even in his decline. While the Chancellor insulted the liberal finance minister Christian Lindner at his press conference in Berlin on Wednesday evening as a petty and untrustworthy tactician and threw him out of the government, he patted himself on the back. It is a strange spectacle. Fortunately, it will soon be over. (...) "Corriere della Sera" (Italy) "And in the end it was Olaf Scholz who fired Christian Lindner. When things were decided, when the trap sprung for the liberals, when the course was set for their departure from the government, it was the Chancellor who, with pride and anticipation, took away their pleasure in slamming the door. The Chancellor fired his own finance minister and ended the traffic light government - the second shortest government in German history. At least Scholz managed not to break this inglorious record. (...) Ultimately Scholz is paying for his inability to give an experiment that was supposed to modernize Germany an identity and a direction. He was not lucky, because the Ukraine war broke out immediately with all its consequences for Germany. (...) Now it is up to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to control the crisis from Bellevue Palace - as often happened in the Italian presidential palace. With the crisis, Germany seems to be re-enacting an Italian drama that no one has ever played in this country before." "De Standaard" (Belgium) "Just at the moment when Donald Trump wins elections in the USA - which means turbulent times for Europe and Germany - the German government is in crisis. After the meeting of the three governing parties on Wednesday evening, an angry Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared that cooperation with the liberal Finance Minister Christian Lindner was no longer possible. (...) Scholz - like the Green Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck - wants to pursue a policy that costs money. He wants to award subsidies to reduce high energy costs, save jobs, provide investment bonuses and guarantee that Ukraine is not left to its own devices. The return of Donald Trump to the White House was an additional reason for Scholz to spend money on strengthening Germany. He had suggested to Lindner that the debt brake be lifted in order to finance these high costs. But Lindner, who defended the German tradition of a balanced budget, did not want to agree to this. (...) Lindner returned to the liberal concept that companies should be given as much freedom as possible so that the economy can grow. This is a different vision than the one that was the basis of the 2021 coalition agreement." "Tages-Anzeiger" (Switzerland) "In recent weeks, Lindner has had little interest in Habeck's argument that if Donald Trump wins, the federal government will have to stand together and demonstrate stability all the more urgently. Perhaps, he recently mused in a small circle, a new election of the Bundestag in the spring would make much more sense, because Trump would still be in the process of putting together his government. If, on the other hand, regular elections are held in the autumn, Germany will be in election campaign mode and unable to act practically all summer - and thus at the very moment when Trump might make the first far-reaching decisions in security, economic and trade policy."