Fiscal policy was a squabble too far for German coalition’s odd throuple

(From left) Christian Lindner of the FDP, the Greens’ Robert Habeck and the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, of the SPD at the budget debate session in January. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

Germany’s coalition government, which collapsed in dramatic fashion on Wednesday night after almost three years in power, was always an odd throuple.

A pact between three parties with three quite different histories and different priorities, it was made up of two outfits that have traditionally located themselves on the left of the political spectrum – the Social Democratic party (SPD) and the Greens – and one, the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), that had until then been a loyal junior partner to the conservatives.