Following the collapse of the German government coalition, Volker Wissing announced his intention to remain as Transport Minister in Chancellor Olaf Scholz‘s cabinet.
At the same time, he announced his resignation from the FDP. The party’s ministers around Christian Lindner had previously announced that they would all be resigning.
Wissing stated that Scholz had asked him in a personal conversation whether he wanted to continue in his post under the new conditions. In future, he will be part of the government as a non-party member.
Wissing remains a non-party member of the government
“I am not distancing myself from the basic values of my party and do not wish to join another party,” the minister announced. He did not want to be “a burden” for the Liberals and had therefore resigned. He had expressed his position towards the government on several occasions, most recently in a guest article in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Wissing’s decision follows a bitter dispute over joint government work between the SPD, Greens, and FDP. Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on November 6 that he was dismissing Finance Minister Christian Lindner from his post, citing repeated breaches of trust and a lack of willingness to implement proposals for the good of the country.
Scholz and Lindner had clashed publicly several times in the summer; however, the trigger for the break-up of the coalition was a recent economic paper by the Finance Minister, which was not compatible with the goals of the SPD and the Greens. Lindner himself refused to take the blame for the failed talks and accused Scholz of a “calculated break”.
The Chancellor announced his intention to call a vote of confidence in January, which could dissolve the current government. Until then, he asked the opposition for support in order to be able to finalise the 2025 budget, among other things. However, the FDP, CDU and AfD have called for the question to be asked now in order to initiate new elections before the end of the year.
State secretaries turn their backs on the transport minister
The three parliamentary state secretaries from the ranks of the FDP – Daniela Kluckert, Oliver Luksic and Gero Hocker – announced their own resignations at the same time as Wissing left the party and asked for their dismissal. They accuse the Minister of Transport of a breach of trust that makes further cooperation impossible.
They said via X: “Our country needs a fresh start and orderly political conditions quickly. After his lone decision, we no longer have any trust in Volker Wissing.”
It is now unclear how Wissing will continue without political leadership. After all, he still has the civil servant state secretaries Susanne Henckel, Stefan Schnorr and Hartmut Höppner as well as the heads of department.
