外交安全保障政策

In 2021, the unlikely trio comprising of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Greens and the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) formed the Traffic Light Coalition. However, tensions rose within the coalition, especially regarding the federal budget. While the Chancellor, and leader of the SPD, Olaf Scholz called for the loosening of the “debt brake,” the Finance Minister, and leader of the FDP, Christian Linder heavily opposed this. Months of disagreement regarding the budgetary policy led to the dismissal of Linder and as a result, the collapse of the coalition. With the collapse of the coalition government, snap elections were held on the 28th of February with the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister Christian Social Union (CSU) coming victorious with 28.6 percent of total votes. However, the key question remains: What do the results mean, and what does the future of German politics look like? To answer this question, the Heinrich Boll Foundation East Asia Office invited three guests for a fireside chat discussion on the 2025 German Federal election.