- FDP leader Rülke advocates for the party to maintain its prominence.
After the subpar results of their party in the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, the head of the FDP group in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament, Hans-Ulrich Rülke, is advocating for caution and backing their involvement in the traffic light coalition in Berlin. Essentially, he believes that putting the nation's needs ahead of the party's is essential. "This means we should keep trying to resolve the country's issues," Rülke stated in Stuttgart.
He used the topic of "asylum scamming" as an illustration. In his opinion, even amending the Basic Law shouldn't be off the table if necessary, particularly if the Greens don't budge on this matter. "If the Greens don't shift on this issue, then this coalition will hit its limits for me," Rülke declared. Following Michael Theurer's resignation as state chairman over the weekend, Rülke has been serving as his deputy and heading the FDP's state association in Baden-Württemberg.
The Free Democrats managed to scrape by with around just one percent of the votes in both states, which prevented them from earning seats in the state parliaments. "The election results demonstrate that the traffic light coalition has lost its legitimacy," stated Wolfgang Kubicki, the deputy chairman of the FDP, on the X platform.
More individuals are urging the exit from the traffic light coalition
Rülke is noticing an increasing discontent with the traffic light coalition among FDP members. "Actually, I'm getting more and more messages from party friends who want to depart from the traffic light coalition," Rülke mentioned. He's unsure if there would still be enough support among party members for staying in the traffic light coalition in a poll conducted in the southwest. "It's a given that the FDP won't engage in such a setup again at the federal level," Rülke asserted.
Ruelf's concerns regarding the Greens' stance on asylum policies might lead to his withdrawal from the traffic light coalition, necessitating an Election to the Landtag if the FDP aims to form a new governing alliance in Baden-Württemberg. The lack of seats in the state parliaments due to the low voter turnout has prompted discussions about the coalition's legitimacy and its continuation.
