When, in 2021, Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats went into a “traffic light” coalition with the Greens and pro-business Free Democrats, the new government was riding high on an enthusiastic spirit of cooperation.
There were promises to modernise, reinvigorate and green-proof Europe’s largest economy. Germany, the coalition partners said, had sleep-walked into a complacent state during 16 years of rule under Angela Merkel. The new trio in power would jolt the country out of its hubris, and deliver it into a new era of vigour and creative transformation. That, at least, was the idea.
