German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) speaks with aide Jorg Kukis during the COP27 climate conference at the International Conference Center in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022.
Islam Safwat | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Jörg Kukis was named Germany’s new finance minister on Thursday, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz facing growing pressure to call for a confidence vote and hold it early following the dissolution of his ruling three-way coalition. election.
Kukis replaces Christian Lindner, who was fired by Scholz on Wednesday night, citing the need to protect Germany from economic damage. The chancellor also accused Lindner of not caring about the public interest and said there was no longer any basis of trust for continued cooperation.
Lindner’s dismissal effectively ends the governing coalition composed of Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), Lindner’s Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens, which formed after Germany’s last federal election in 2021 Get on stage.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier formally fired Lindner and the justice, education and research ministers, who were also members of the FDP. German Digital and Transport Minister Volker Wissing, also a party member, said in a statement to the media that he would stay in office but leave the FDP.
On Thursday, Steinmeier announced that Wissing would take over as attorney general in addition to his previous position.
Who is Jörg Kukis?
The new Finance Minister Kukis is a member of the Social Democratic Party and is regarded as a close adviser to Scholz. He had previously served as State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery, responsible for economics, finance and European affairs.
He previously held the post of State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance and worked at Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt and London.
He will face a full agenda as the German government struggles to agree a controversial 2025 budget, a key factor in the alliance’s dissolution. The budget was due to be finalized ahead of the reshuffle in mid-November, but it’s unclear whether that timeline can now change.
sudden electoral pressure
After Wednesday’s incident, Scholz said he would call for a vote of confidence in himself on January 15, opening the door to an early federal election at the end of March next year. The electoral vote was originally scheduled for fall 2025.
Pressure intensified on Thursday for Scholz to hold such a vote sooner rather than later.
Lindner spoke at a news conference earlier in the meeting, calling for an immediate vote of confidence and new elections. The latest polls show that Linde’s Free Democrats are below the 5% threshold needed to enter Germany’s parliamentary elections.
His comments echoed those of opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who belongs to the Christian Democrats (CDU) currently leading in opinion polls. Mertz told a press conference that the confidence vote should be held as soon as next week and there was “simply no reason” to wait until January.
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