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Germany’s Government Collapses; Europe’s Largest Economy Facing Challenges

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BERLIN (Worthy News) – Germany’s three-party ruling coalition collapsed late Wednesday after Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his Finance Minister Christian Lindner, adding to uncertainty in Europe’s largest economy.

Wednesday’s government The crisis shocked Germans, who hoped that Donald J. Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election would force the government to stay together.

Brussels has been concerned over fears that the incoming president would target Germany’s all-important car industry in a trade war, causing it to suffer.

Ultimately, however, commentators said that Trump’s looming threat did not convince the fractious parties to put aside their differences.

“I would have liked to have spared you this difficult decision,” acknowledged Scholz during a hastily arranged news conference in the chancellery late Wednesday. “Especially in times like these, when uncertainty is growing,” he added.

Scholz vowed to keep governing until the end of the year and then demand a confidence vote in Parliament in January, a test he would likely fail.

EARLY VOTE

That would open the way to early elections, possibly in March, for only the third time since the Federal Republic was founded in 1948.

The trouble in Berlin hit the European Union when the bloc of 27 nations searched for direction as political and social turmoil spread across the continent.

Nearby, France’s government was also in a crisis after elections, which yielded a deadlocked Parliament this year.

Elsewhere, Russia has made advances on the battlefields in Ukraine that critics say continue to threaten Europe broadly.

Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and injured in Europe’s deadliest armed conflict since World War Two.