Does Germany need to reinvent itself?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2024
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister, Christian Lindner last month, Germany’s ‘traffic light’ government collapsed, an uneasy coalition between parties with differing perspectives and strained relations, the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democrats.
At the heart of the political dispute lie deeply opposing views about spending plans, and how to fund much needed investment in infrastructure projects such as transport, education, green energy and digital technology, in order to boost Germany’s international competitiveness.
Falling demand both domestically and overseas for manufacturing goods, the pandemic, war in Ukraine and high energy costs have weakened Germany’s economy. So how can Germany reinvigorate its exports and economic growth? On this episode of The Inquiry, we’re asking: Does Germany need to reinvent itself?
Contributors Michaela Kuefner, Chief Political Editor, DW Deutsche Welle. Marcel Fratzscher, President, German Institute for Economic Research & Professor of Macroeconomics, Humboldt University. Julian Hinz, Professor of International Economics, Bielefeld University & Director, Trade Policy Research Group, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Monika Schnitzer of Economics & Chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts.
Presenter: Tanya Beckett Production: Diane Richardson and Matt Toulson Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey Technical Producer: Matthew Dempsey Editor: Tara McDermott
Image credit - Reuters via BBC Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers. |
| 0:07.9 | But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA |
| 0:12.0 | was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife. |
| 0:18.0 | Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family? |
| 0:21.3 | When lies are still being told to this day, who do you believe? |
| 0:25.0 | I wouldn't even know where to start, and I'm with the irony. |
| 0:28.4 | Steakknife. |
| 0:29.7 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.4 | Welcome to The Inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett, on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:36.8 | One question, four expert witnesses, |
| 0:40.4 | and an answer. Europe has been weathering extreme upheaval of late political instability in |
| 0:47.3 | France, struggles with migration and an ailing economy. But at the start of November, uncertainty took a particularly perilous step |
| 0:57.2 | into its very foundations when Germany's Chancellor Olaf Schultz sacked his finance minister, |
| 1:03.8 | prompting the collapse of the country's government in Berlin. |
| 1:18.2 | Too often, federal minister Lindner has blocked laws and in irrelevant manner. Too often he is engaged in petty party political tactics. Too often he has broken my trust. Germany's three-way |
| 1:27.4 | coalition between the left-of-centre social democrats, |
| 1:31.1 | Green Party and Free Democratic Party, had struggled almost since its inception in 2021, |
| 1:38.2 | with infighting and dwindling popularity. |
| 1:41.3 | But the final war of words was especially bitter. Chancellor Olaf Schultz accused the |
| 1:47.1 | free Democrat leader Christian Lindner of being small-minded and egotistical, whilst Lindner |
| 1:53.7 | accused Schultz of trivialising the concerns of ordinary Germans. Fresh elections are scheduled for February 2025. |
| 2:03.0 | But at the heart of Germany's political impasse |
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