Is Germany’s government about to fall apart?

Opposing views on the end of cars with combustor engines and the end of oil and gas heating have recently left Germany’s government in stark conflict. Over the weekend, Hertie School Professor of Communication in Politics and Civil Society Andrea Römmele commented on the strained relationship.

“Towards the public, Chancellor Olaf Scholz needs to explain his way of governing. Within the coalition, he needs to be a moderator who holds the different parties together,” Römmele said in ARD Morgenmagazin on 27 March. 

Asked by the Financial Times whether the shattered trust between the Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals was irreversible, the Dean of Executive Education said: “I’ve always dismissed that possibility but these days I’m not so sure. We have to think the unthinkable.” According to Römmele, one reason of the ongoing conflict was the lack of both left-leaning parties SPD and Greens to give liberal FDP room to stir forward their own political agenda. Having lost several recent state elections, “they’re fighting for their very existence,” she said.

Römmele also commented on the current government crisis on ZDF, phoenix, WDR, rbb, SWR, and BR.
 

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