Germany: Political Crisis Escalates

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to ask for a vote of confidence in the German parliament (Bundestag) on December 16. According to leading German newspapers, including Bild, which cited “reliable sources in the German Social Democratic Party (SPD),” if Scholz loses the vote of confidence – as German and international experts have widely predicted – early federal elections could be held on February 23.

Amid a major political crisis, Germany’s economic expectations index fell 5.7 points in November from the previous month, dropping to just 7.4 points. As reported by the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW), the assessment of the current economic situation in Germany also deteriorated: the index amounted to -91.4 points, which means a decrease of 4.5 points compared to October. “Germany’s economic expectations are affected by Trump’s victory and the collapse of the coalition. Expectations are falling in the current survey, although this is probably due in particular to the outcome of the US presidential election,” ZEW President Achim Wambach (pictured) told reporters. The German economy, already shaken, will have to deal with the economic consequences of Trump’s convincing political victory, making general tariffs on European Union exports to US markets very likely, especially on the German auto industry.

Meanwhile, Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of the Sahra Wagenknecht Union (BSW), has launched a frontal attack against green energy, calling for a ban on the installation of new wind turbines “in particularly sensitive natural areas.”

According to Wagenknecht, “the installation of wind turbines, especially in nature reserves, should be strictly prohibited. Their construction in forests and national parks contributes not to climate protection but to environmental destruction,” Wagenknecht said. The BSW leader also emphasized that the winter months repeatedly demonstrate “how naive it is in our climate to rely almost exclusively on wind and solar, while expanding renewable energy without considering the consequences. When the wind blows and the sun shines, Germany already has a surplus of electricity. If there is no wind, wind turbines will be useless. No other country has such ill-conceived climate policy.”

As it became known last week, the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) is “preparing a plan to return Germany to nuclear power if it wins the next federal election.” According to a memorandum prepared by the CDU-CSU parliamentary group entitled “Energy Agenda for Germany,” closing the nuclear power plant in 2023, at the height of the energy crisis, “was a wrong and ideologically motivated decision by the coalition parties.”