Germany’s ruling coalition collapsed after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, sacked his finance minister and paved the way for a snap election – triggering political chaos in Europe’s largest economy just hours after Donald Trump won the US presidential election. Christian Lindner, the sacked minister, said: ‘The chancellor gave me an ultimatum to suspend the constitutional … Read more
Crisis talks in the coalition of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, the Greens and Lindner’s Free Democratic Party came to a head after the FDP issued a paper with demands for liberal economic reforms that were difficult for the other two parties to accept. Lindner’s recent policy paper, leaked to the media last week, called for tax cuts and … Read more
The Lindner paper is just another step in an almost endless list of ever growing tensions within the German government. Up to now, the risk of snap elections had been relatively low as none of the three coalition parties had an interest in earlier elections, given their weak polling results. It now increasingly looks as … Read more
The suspect remains at large after deadly and random attack on festival-goers in the western German city of Solingen. Three people have been killed and four others seriously injured in a stabbing attack at a festival in the western German city of Solingen, authorities said. At about 10pm local time on Friday (20:00 GMT) a … Read more
A 14-year-old American boy who walked away from the Caribbean Princess cruise ship after its scheduled stop at a German port more than three days ago has been found safe, his grandmother said Saturday. Aydin Brown had been on the cruise with his grandmother, but left the ship after it docked at Rostock-Warnemünde on Thursday … Read more
Höcke is a key leader of the party’s most extreme wing. He first drew international scrutiny for a 2017 speech lamenting the construction of a Holocaust memorial near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Calling Germans “the only people in the world who planted a memorial of shame in the heart of their capital,” Höcke demanded … Read more
Hocke was fined for using a Nazi motto – illegal in modern-day Germany – during a campaign rally in 2021. A court has convicted one of the best known figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party of using a Nazi slogan in a speech and ordered him to pay a fine. Judges fined … Read more
Heiko Rebsch/picture-alliance/dpa/AP/File Matthias Ecke at a SPD Saxony conference in June 2023, where he was nominated as a candidate for the upcoming European election. CNN — A 17-year-old boy handed himself in to police after admitting that he attacked a German politician on Friday. Police say that Matthias Ecke, the candidate for the Social Democratic … Read more
By Ruth Comerford BBC News 3 hours ago Image source, Matthias Rietschel Image caption, Matthias Ecke was attacked by four people as he hung election posters German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned an attack on a European Parliament member from his party, calling it a “threat” to democracy. Matthias Ecke, the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) … Read more
27 March 2024 Updated 4 hours ago Image source, Alamy Live News Image caption, The FlixBus coach veered to the right and overturned on the A9 autobahn Four people have been killed and 35 injured in a motorway crash involving a coach near the east German city of Leipzig, police say. The FlixBus coach veered … Read more