The last three state elections were dramatic for Olaf Scholz's coalition of Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) — the results appeared to echo the mood of the country. Never before in the history of post-war Germany has a federal government been as unpopular as this coalition.

So what happens next? In the week following the state elections, the Greens changed their leaders and are now trying to reshape their party policies. The Social Democrats are relieved that they at least won the election in Brandenburg, and intend to carry on with their work without any more trouble, but with a stronger emphasis on social issues.

And the FDP, the smallest member of the coalition and the one whose ideological inclinations least suits that of the other two, is also looking to refine its focus. By threatening to pull out of the coalition, the party is hoping to make its own, more neoliberal agenda more visible.

Breaking up the coalition is currently seen as a bad move, as new elections could be disastrous for all three parties: Currently, all three combined are polling lower than the largest opposition force, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their Bavarian sister-party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

And yet the FDP is making its threats all the same in the hope of exerting as much influence as possible in government while it can. The budget, the economy, migration, pensions — on many of the legislative projects on the agenda, the two more left-wing parties, the SPD and the Greens, have different views than the economically liberal FDP. The party's leader, Finance........

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