Two years into the traffic light coalition and the ideological divides between Germany’s ruling parties have come to a head. Amid a deepening climate crisis, war in Europe, and quest for energy security, Greens and Liberals’ differences on Germany’s future are surfacing in a bitter and very public struggle.

Mehr Fortschritt Wagen, Dare More Progress. This was the slogan under which Germany’s federal governing parties (Social Democratic Party, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, and Free Democratic Party) announced their coalition agreement about a year and a half ago.

The honeymoon period did not last long. Soon there was one open quarrel after another, and most of the time it was the Liberals against the Greens. These included the fight over the Tempolimit (a speed limit on motorways), the Covid-19 measures (should we throw them overboard or should they be tougher), the debt brake (from 2016, new public borrowing may not exceed 0.35 per cent of GDP). The climax came in the autumn of 2022, when the Greens and Liberals clashed over whether or not to keep nuclear power stations open. For weeks, accusations flew back and forth; the Greens were plunging the country into chaos (said the Liberals), the Liberals were irresponsible and clinging to a technology of the past (said the Greens). In the end, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democrats) intervened and settled the painful dispute between Christian Lindner, the liberal finance minister, and Robert Habeck, the Greens’ economics minister. The three nuclear power plants had to remain open until mid-April 2023 at the latest and no new fuel rods were to be ordered. The German press spoke of: “Das Machtwort des Kanzlers”, the chancellor’s last word.

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Meanwhile, the German government’s record continues to be marred by open quarrels. With a new high point in recent weeks: the governing parties are failing to agree on the outlines of the new budget for 2024.

The planned volume of the German budget is around 424 billion euros. The additional wish list of all departments together amounts to about 70 billion more. The Greens want to introduce a basic child benefit, which from 2025 will bundle the various family policy benefits, automate them and thus ensure more money for low-income households. They want more money to expand the rail network and public transport. They also want to provide support for people from low- and middle-income households to switch to more climate-friendly heating systems from 2024, with at least 65 per cent of the heat coming from renewable sources. The Social Democrats want an additional 10 billion euros for the Bundeswehr.

Finance Minister Lindner disagrees and sets four reasons for the new budget: an end to the expansionary spending policy of the crisis years, compliance with the debt brake, consideration of rising interest rates and no new taxes. The Greens and Social Democrats, on the other hand, are willing to look for new revenues and are considering introducing a wealth tax on the super-rich. The Greens have also put the abolition of climate-damaging subsidies on the table, as set out in the coalition agreement.

For the Liberals, these measures are disguised tax increases, and they are therefore vehemently opposed. They are taking particular aim at the Greens. “The Greens have to learn that you have to work with the money the state has at its disposal and that money doesn’t fall from the sky,” said FDP Secretary-General Bijan Djir-Sarai. At a party meeting in Mainz, Transport Minister Volker Wissing declared: “We can only move our country forward with concrete proposals and not with climate bla bla.” Within the coalition, the Liberals are often seen as the force putting the blockers on. Bijan Djir-Sarai counters this accusation offensively: “If there are moronic positions, we say no.”

The open fighting between the Greens and the Liberals highlights the ideological differences. The Greens are ready to clearly and decisively choose renewable energy at the expense of fossil sources. At the same time, they want to support low and middle-income households make the transition. Liberals, on the other hand, prefer to keep all options open, under the banner of “technological openness”. Lindner also believes that tax increases are poison for growth and economic prosperity.

The German Liberals show a similar stubbornness on European issues. First, they blocked the EU’s decision to ban the sale of new fossil-fuel cars from 2035 at the last minute. They also did this in the name of “technological openness”: they want cars that run on e-fuel, synthetic fuel, to continue to be allowed. At a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels in March this year, Minister Lindner opposed the European Commission’s proposal to give EU countries more individual leeway to comply with EU debt rules. He fears it will lead to even more debt.

That the game is being played so hard, according to many commentators, has to do with the series of electoral defeats suffered by the Liberals throughout 2022. In North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, the party was thrown out of government; in Lower Saxony and Berlin, it failed even to reach the electoral threshold and was thrown out of parliament. It is clear that participation in government is not doing the Liberals any favours. A growing number of voices within the party are calling for a tougher line and a clearer stance, especially with elections looming in the states of Bremen, Hesse and Bavaria.

Lindner has made it clear that he feels no pressure to reach an agreement on the federal budget. He is putting the ball in the ministers’ court. “The debt brake will not be loosened,” he declared during the ARD broadcast Bericht aus Berlin. The ministries must come up with concrete savings proposals. Lindner does not consider it necessary for Scholz to intervene again, as he did during the nuclear crisis. “I will solve the problem,” he says with full confidence and conviction.

This article is a part of our new monthly column that keeps an eye on German Greens and their role in German government and politics. You can read the first column on the Berlin regional election here. Sign up to our newsletter to get it in your inbox.