There is a certain irony in the fact that it is Robert Crumbach of all people who, on the first real working day in January, ends the coalition for whose silent work he has always fought so much. The rather confusing government crisis that has been going on for months has been ongoing since Monday Brandenburg thus one spectacular revolution richer.

Robert Crumbach, previously Finance Minister BSW in Brandenburg, no longer wants to be a member of the Wagenknecht formation. (“This is no longer my party.”) He is also leaving the BSW parliamentary group in the Potsdam state parliament. Because his group has lost the last powerful advocate for government participation with the SPD, Dietmar Woidke’s coalition is effectively over – even if the SPD Prime Minister has not yet said this publicly.