Christian Wolfgang Lindner is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who was the Federal Minister of Finance from 8 December 2021 to 7 November 2024. On 6 November 2024, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz removed Lindner from his position, Scholz’s reasoning being that a joined coalition proved impossible. Lindner has been the party leader of the FDP since 2013 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) for North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017, previously holding a seat from 2009 until 2012.
The so-called 'Traffic Light Coalition' – made up of Scholz’s Social Democrats, the liberal FDP and the Greens – collapsed on..
'He has broken my trust too many times', the chancellor said of his finance minister.