Dr. Henning Hoff

The coalition-building after the election on February 23 is likely to become a moment of truth.

Elon Musk has been trolling Germany’s parliamentary election campaign during the holidays. His AI-supported interventions are unlikely to have much effect, but they remind the country that it needs new ideas—which so far are lacking.

The break-up of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ coalition government was expected, but is still taking place at an extremely critical time. Its successor will have to set clearer priorities—and find greater fiscal space.

The pro-business Free Democrats are likely to leave the government early. It may be party leader—and finance minister—Christian Lindner’s last consequential mistake for a while.

Politically, the Scholz government seems finished, even if it manages to drag on for another year. Germany, which derived much of its foreign policy stance from its seemingly unshakable “stability,” does not look so stable all of a sudden.

Germany is spending the summer trying to temporarily ignore the situation in Ukraine. That’s likely to backfire. Rather, the German government and the rest of Europe should signal stronger, not weaker, support for Ukraine.