By Vanessa Gera And Colleen Barry
The collapse of Germany’s governing coalition and President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House are creating new risks for the European Union’s biggest economy, already in a troubling decline.
Germany’s economy has been shrinking for the past two years in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, war in Ukraine and competition from China. Amid both structural problems at home and global challenges, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s fractious three-party coalition failed to find a way forward on some key issues.
The situation came to a head Wednesday night when Scholz announced he was firing Finance Minister Christian Lindner. The move effectively meant the collapse of the chancellor’s coalition, which relied on Lindner’s pro-business Free Democratic Party, and left the government bereft of a parliamentary majority.
The coalition’s breakdown followed weeks of internal disputes over how to boost Germany’s ailing economy.
Scholz said he planned to seek a vote of confidence in parliament on Jan. 15, a move
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