A coalition is not a love match. Compromise is always part of the coalition. Each party must feel that the others take them seriously. Otherwise, one or the other will burst.
In any case, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) does not seem to have taken the FDP members in the particularly important defense committee seriously. In response to their precise questions, the chancellor is said to have started the “Scholzomat” and released speech bubbles. That is why the FDP members demonstratively left the committee after an hour. What a scandal!
It’s not uncommon for a disgruntled MP to leave a meeting early. But it has never happened before in Berlin that several MPs from a governing party disavowed their own head of government in such a way.
dr Hugo Müller-Vogg is a journalist, book author and former editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).
The defense policy spokesman for the FDP, Marcus Faber, justified this on ARD as follows: Unfortunately, “many questions” were “not answered” by Scholz. “That’s why we as Free Democrats decided just after 9 that we’re leaving the session now.”
When the members of a government faction treat the head of government as one might expect from angry opposition MPs, the signs are brewing. After 155 traffic light days, you can feel more and more how thin the ice is on which the red-green-yellow partners are moving. There are not only fundamental differences between the FDP and SPD about taxes and debts or very different views between the FDP and the Greens on climate policy.
The smallest of the three partners is apparently getting annoyed by how Scholz treats the Ukraine issue. Not forgotten is his stubborn adherence to Nord Stream 2. Nor is forgotten how rude Scholz dealt with the “boys and gals” who called for heavy weapons for Ukraine. This particularly affected the “girl” Marie-Angnes Strack-Zimmermann, the very influential chairwoman of the defense committee, who was very much valued in the FDP. If Scholz then expected the defense committee to be grateful for platitudes, that was too much for some.
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The alarm bells were ringing in the FDP leadership, where there is already nervousness given the poor poll numbers and election results. Despite all the anger about Scholz: A severe coalition crisis caused by the FDP would not help anyone, least of all the Free Democrats.
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As a kind of peace offer to the SPD, Strack-Zimmermann demonstratively sided with the chancellor. His appearance was “first of all a super serve”, she said on the TV channel “Welt”. The atmosphere was good. Scholz offered to “come back too” and she thinks that makes sense.
The rebellious Faber also had to pull the emergency brake: Suddenly he saw everything very differently, justified his own exit from the meeting with follow-up appointments, apologized for the wrong impression and wanted to offer to resign from his post at the parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday. It’s not all very believable.
The incident in the Defense Committee shows that there is no longer any trace of the “break in the political culture” praised by FDP leader Christian Lindner when the government was formed, of the particularly trusting and fair treatment of one another. The traffic light is still on. However, the three color signals are flashing more and more frequently at the same time or mixed up. Apparently there is a tangible malfunction. The need for repair is obvious.
