For years Germany was seen as a rock of stability and predictability in the EU. These days, its partners wonder what curveball Berlin will throw at them next.

Last week the German government sent shockwaves through Brussels by withdrawing its support for a piece of legislation that it had long appeared to back: the EU’s new supply chain law.

The volte-face was a stark example of how chaos in chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unruly coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and liberals is disrupting EU policymaking — something even senior German officials were forced to admit...

The intervention opened up a bitter rift between the FDP on the one side and the SPD and Greens on the other, which both backed the directive to the hilt. But despite frantic internal talks the row could not be resolved, meaning that the German ambassador would have to abstain...

Back in Germany, the FDP’s change of heart comes at a dramatic time for the party, with its approval ratings at rock bottom and showing few signs of a recovery...

That, experts say, explains its willingness to take a stand on issues seen as crucial to its traditional voters, especially in the business community — even at the cost of exasperating its partners in Berlin and Brussels...

Under Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany also occasionally abstained on crucial votes if the coalition partners in Berlin couldn’t agree on a common position, in what became known as the “German vote”.

But Scholz’s government came into power promising a new approach. “The government will make sure that Germany presents a united front in its dealings with European partners and institutions,” the three parties wrote in their coalition agreement.

Instead, the situation has worsened...

Many in Berlin fear consequences beyond reputational damage. Repasi, the Social Democrat MEP, said that when Germany abstained it strengthened France’s negotiating position, often to the detriment of Berlin...