Germany’s Scholz fires rebellious finance minister

Germany’s Scholz fires rebellious finance minister
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his rebellious finance minister Christian Lindner on Nov. 6, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 06 November 2024

Germany’s Scholz fires rebellious finance minister

Germany’s Scholz fires rebellious finance minister
  • The move came after weeks of bitter feuding that have rocked the coalition government
  • Fiscal hawk Lindner had proposed sweeping reforms to jumpstart the troubled German economy

BERLIN: Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday fired his rebellious Finance Minister Christian Lindner, spelling doom for the three-party coalition though Scholz could stay on in a minority government.
The move came after weeks of bitter feuding that have rocked the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, Lindner’s Free Democrats and the Greens.
Scholz fired his finance minister during a crunch meeting of senior figures from all three ideologically disparate parties at the chancellery, Scholz’s spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told AFP.
The chancellery scheduled a press conference for 2015 GMT, and Lindner announced statements to the media shortly after, to be followed by Greens politicians.
Fiscal hawk Lindner had proposed sweeping reforms to jumpstart the troubled German economy that the other two parties opposed, and had long flirted with bolting the unhappy coalition.
He had repeatedly warned of “an autumn of decisions” as difficult budget talks have loomed.
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens had warned that the US presidential election, Germany’s economic woes and the Ukraine and Middle East wars make this “the worst time for the government to fail.”
The Bild daily reported that on Wednesday he told the other parties that the talks of recent days had shown there was not enough common ground on economic and financial policy.
Lindner had argued that Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory had made an economic turnaround even more urgent.
The newspaper added that Lindner had suggested that the parties opt for new elections in early 2025, but that Scholz had rejected the proposal.
If confirmed, this would suggest the Social Democrats and the Greens will seek to stay in power as a minority government until scheduled elections in September 2025.


Death toll in Louisville UPS plane crash rises to 9

Death toll in Louisville UPS plane crash rises to 9
Updated 6 sec ago

Death toll in Louisville UPS plane crash rises to 9

Death toll in Louisville UPS plane crash rises to 9
  • Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will be on site later Wednesday morning to begin the process of finding out what went wrong
  • Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said nine dead people had been found at the scene of the crash

KENTUCKY, USA: The death toll from the crash of a UPS cargo plane that erupted into a fireball moments after takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday has risen to nine, city and state officials said Wednesday.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will be on site later Wednesday morning to begin the process of finding out what went wrong when the 34-year-old MD-11 cargo plane caught fire around 5:13 p.m. ET Tuesday and then crashed.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said nine dead people had been found at the scene of the crash. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on social media it was possible there would be more fatalities. The plane had a crew of three according to UPS and officials said none of the crew survived.
Several buildings in an industrial area beyond the runway were on fire after the crash, with thick, black smoke seen rising into the evening sky.
Officials said 11 victims had been taken to hospitals on Tuesday.
A government official told Reuters at least 10 others remain unaccounted for. Beshear told CNN that two people remain in critical condition and added it could have been much worse.
“This plane barely missed a restaurant bar. It was very close to a very large Ford plant with hundreds, if not a thousand plus workers,” Beshear said. ” It was very close to our convention center that’s having a big livestock show that people were arriving for.” The international airport in Louisville reopened to air traffic early on Wednesday, though the runway where the accident happened is expected to remain closed for another 10 days, officials said.
UPS said Wednesday it canceled a parcel sorting shift that usually begins in the midmorning at its facility at the airport after it had halted package sorting operations Tuesday.
US aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse said on Wednesday he has not seen any evidence of a link between the accident and a 36-day US government shutdown that has strained air traffic control.
NTSB investigators will be looking to retrieve the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder that will shed light on the crash.
Brickhouse said investigators are expected to focus on the number one engine which was seen on video to be ignited, and appeared to have separated from the aircraft. “It is designed to fly if you lose one engine, but we need to see the effect of losing that engine on the rest of the aircraft,” Brickhouse said.
The triple-engine plane was fueled for an 8-1/2 hour flight to Honolulu.
It was the first UPS cargo plane to crash since August 2013, when an Airbus aircraft went down on a landing approach to the international airport in Birmingham, Alabama, killing both crew.