The FDP is in a crisis: Your role in the cabinet must be specified in order to position yourself clearly against left-wing redistributors. The FDP should not shy away from leaving the government.
Monday
Hangover mood at the FDP. The party’s disappearance from the Lower Saxony state parliament plunges it into a crisis. The 5 percent possible for a few hours would still have been endured as a mishap, but the valid 4.7 force you to act. In this existential situation, no topic should be taboo. Liberals need to think about people and positions.
For the chairman, Christian Lindner, who is perceived by many ex-voters as too cool, there is no serious alternative. However, the men and women in the second row – Kubicki, Dürr, Graf Lambsdorff, Strack-Zimmermann, Teuteberg and Buschmann – would have to appear more often in order to show more profiles of the party.
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Secretary General Djir-Sarai must prove that he can perform a miracle. As an FDP man without government office, he has to fight uncompromisingly for liberal principles and at the same time gather sympathy for his ailing party. If Lindner doesn’t trust him, he has to look for someone more suitable.
The riskiest balancing act, however, must be managed in a coalition. Christian Lindner was horrified to learn that many voters classify his party as left-wing. In Lower Saxony, many have even switched to the AfD. That’s why Lindner and his less visible fellow ministers have to specify their roles in the cabinet. They may no longer appear as vicarious agents of the SPD and the Greens. They must appear clearly as a corrective against left-wing redistributors.
Although many important media coddle the Greens and spare Scholz, the FDP has to draw yellow lines in coalition poker. For example in nuclear power plants. Because of the extension of its terms, the FDP has the majority of the population and the expertise from business and science on its side. The European neighbors are amazed at the stubbornness of the German ideologues. The FDP must resist this issue, no matter how difficult it may be.
Christian Lindner is not only dealing with his permanent rival Habeck. The Green Environment Minister Steffi Lemke also announces at every appearance that nuclear energy will be irrevocably over in April. The FDP in the cabinet must not accept this attitude. In the worst case, she has to get out.
It is risky to collapse a government. Unless the people understand the step.
Tuesday
The debate about the re-election in Berlin keeps blossoming. The latest nonsense comes from the traffic light in Berlin. According to information from the “FAZ”, the Greens, SPD and FDP only want to have new elections in 300 bars. The three parties have almost privately agreed on a new legal basis by declaring that voting until 6:45 p.m. is legal. In addition, according to the traffic light’s suggestion, only the second vote should be re-cast.
This absurd special regulation would accommodate the Greens, who fear losing their direct mandate in Pankow, which they had just won, if the first votes were re-elected. There is no worse way to mock voters. They were hindered in casting both votes. In contrast to the party counters, I trust the Berlin constitutional judges: They want new elections throughout Berlin.
FOCUS founding editor-in-chief Helmut Markwort has been a FDP member of the Bavarian state parliament since 2018.