Latest news with #ChristianLindner
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany's FDP meets for leadership shake-up after election defeat
Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP) is set to meet on Friday to appoint its new leadership, months after its catastrophic result in February's parliamentary election. The current chairman, Christian Lindner, who served as Germany's finance minister in former chancellor Olaf Scholz's government, is stepping down after more than 11 years at the helm. His successor is likely to be the party's former parliamentary leader Christian Dürr. Dürr has proposed entrepreneur, Nicole Büttner, as the new secretary general. She has been an FDP member for 20 years but has not yet stood in the national political spotlight. The FDP's current deputy leader, Wolfgang Kubicki, is set to stand for re-election before the party's 600 delegates. Henning Höne, FDP leader in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia and European lawmaker Svenja Hahn are running for the two other deputy positions. The FDP won just 4.3% of the vote in February's election, falling short of the 5% threshold typically required to enter the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament. The party previously failed to reach 5% in 2013, leaving it on the margins of politics until 2017, when Lindner led it back into the Bundestag. In 2021 it joined the government in a coalition with Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens.
Russia Today
25-02-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
German pro-business party leader retires after electoral defeat
Christian Lindner, the leader of Germany's pro-business Free Democratic Party, has announced that he is retiring from politics following a disastrous defeat in Sunday's Bundestag elections. Lindner served as finance minister in the 'traffic light' ruling coalition between his party, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats and the Greens, which collapsed last year after the FDP leader pulled his support from the government due to a dispute over the budget. 'The federal election brought a defeat for the FDP, but hopefully a new beginning for Germany. That was what I had fought for,' Lindner wrote on social media. 'Now I am retiring from active politics,' he added. As of 00:35 am local time on Monday, projections reported by the German media suggest that Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) has received 28.5% of the votes, while the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is projected to receive 20.7%. The FDP is projected to receive just 4.4%, under the 5% threshold required for them to obtain seats in the legislature. Scholz conceded defeat in a speech on Sunday night. 'This is a bitter election result for the Social Democratic Party. It is also an electoral defeat,' he said in his first statement after preliminary results were released. The campaign was dominated by calls to crack down on illegal immigration and extremism in the wake of a string of terrorist attacks. The parties also spoke about the need to reimagine Germany's role in world affairs in response to US President Donald Trump's push to resolve the Ukraine conflict without the EU's approval.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany's Lindner retires as Free Democrats see collapse in support
Former German finance minister Christian Lindner has announced his retirement from politics after his Free Democratic Party (FDP) appeared to fail to reach the 5% threshold needed to enter the German parliament in Sunday's national election. "I am now retiring from active politics," Lindner wrote on X late on Sunday as his party dropped to around 4.6% in the latest projections. Lindner had earlier pledged to quit politics if the free-market party did not pass the 5% hurdle. The move marks a remarkable downfall for Lindner, who had led the FDP back to political relevance and entered a three-party coalition government in 2021 with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats and the Greens. However, the uncomfortable marriage was marred by massive differences over budgetary policy, with Scholz eventually firing Lindner as finance minister in November. That prompted the FDP to withdraw from the coalition, amid allegations that the party had pre-empted the split on purpose, and led to elections being brought forward from September to February. Lindner sought to position himself as an ideal coalition partner for the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc led by Friedrich Merz, the comfortable winner of Sunday's election. The FDP's collapse in support will instead leave the party - and its leader - heading into the political wilderness.
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
German ex-minister Lindner to quit politics if liberals fall short
The leader of Germany's free-market liberal Free Democrats (FDP), ex-finance minister Christian Lindner, said on Sunday that he will retire from politics if the party fails to make it into parliament. Initial election results showed Lindner's party suffering deep losses, and appeared on track to fall below the 5% threshold needed to take seats in the Bundestag, the lower house of German parliament. In the 2021 Bundestag election, the FDP won 11.5% of the vote. But the party's popularity suffered badly during their time as junior partner in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition. The coalition broke apart after Scholz sacked Lindner in early November, after months of bitter disagreements over economic policy and budget matters.
Euronews
20-02-2025
- Business
- Euronews
German producer price rises show weaker-than-expected demand
German producer prices inched up 0.5% on an annual basis in January, stabilising from December's 0.8%, which was also a one and a half year high, according to official figures from the Federal Statistical Office. Although January's number was less than analyst expectations of 1.3%, it was still the third consecutive month of producer inflation. This was primarily because non-durable consumer goods prices increased by 3% in January 2025, compared to the same month last year, whereas durable consumer goods prices inched up 1.1% on an annual basis. Capital goods' costs also advanced, coming in at 1.9% in January. This was mainly due to higher machinery, trailers, motor vehicles and semi-trailers costs. On the other hand, energy prices dropped 1% in January 2025, compared to the same month in 2023. This was mainly because of natural gas, electricity and district heating prices falling, although mineral oil product prices rose. Excluding electricity prices, German producer prices inched up 1.2% in January, on the same time last year. Producer prices dropped 0.1% on a monthly basis in January, the same as in December, although below market estimates of 0.6%. German economy continues to struggle According to the Federal Statistical Office, Germany's economy shrank by 0.2% in 2024, highlighting the second year in a row of negative growth. This was mainly because of higher energy costs, weak export demand, soaring international competition and ongoing uncertainty in the global political and economic outlook. This situation was exacerbated by the country's coalition government collapsing in late 2024, following German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's firing of his finance minister Christian Lindner. Scholz lost a confidence vote after this. The rising threat of US tariffs following US president Donald Trump taking office has also led to increased concerns about the outlook of the EU as well as the German economy in the coming months. In 2023, Germany's main exports to the US included cars, vaccines and packaged medicaments, according to The Observatory of Economic Complexity, whereas the main imports from the US were cars, crude petroleum and gas turbines. In 2025, German gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to be 0.7%, before growing further to 1.3% in 2026. Inflation is expected to average about 2.1% this year, before falling to 1.9% in 2026. Commission hopeful of reappearance of growth The European Commission said in its latest economic forecast for Germany: "Construction is set to resume growth in early 2025, underpinned by recovering demand for housing and infrastructure, as already signalled by rebounding orders as well as mortgage loans. In response to the increase in tax incentives for investment in 2025 announced in July 2024, investment in equipment is expected to rebound. "Overall, domestic demand is forecast to become again the main driver of economic growth in 2025 and 2026. As energy costs are expected to remain significantly above pre-pandemic levels, they are set to continue weighing on the cost-competitiveness of energy-intensive industries. The contribution to growth from net exports is thus projected to be slightly negative in 2025 and broadly neutral in 2026, despite improvement in demand from Germany's main trading partners."
