FDP must ask members about remaining in the coalition
The result would not be binding for the FDP leadership, but the party must now ask its members whether they want the Liberals to remain in the traffic light coalition. It is another stone in the party's path.
Christian Lindner probably has other things to worry about than the dissatisfied party members out there in the country. As Finance Minister, he has to sit in Berlin and quickly put together a constitutionally compliant supplementary budget for the current year - and put a new one on track for 2024. But his other self, that of the FDP leader, should be looking to Hesse with concern. There, a small group of people frustrated with the "traffic light" coalition has succeeded in getting the party to ask its 77,000 members whether they want to remain in the governing coalition.
Only 500 signatures were required for the project and, as Matthias Noelke, the initiator, confirmed to ntv.de, this hurdle has now been cleared. The 44-year-old knows federal politics from his own experience. He sat in the Bundestag from 2020 to 2021 and is now the city treasurer of Kassel. After the disappointing elections for the FDP in Hesse and Bavaria, he launched an appeal that attracted nationwide attention.
It stated that "Germany's economic substance" was suffering from policies that set the "wrong priorities in times of crisis". The FDP Kassel had therefore decided "out of responsibility towards the whole country and out of concern for the future of political liberalism" to support efforts to conduct a member survey. A dedicated website has been set up for this purpose. When and how the survey will take place is still open. The Kassel initiative has a simple question in mind: Should the FDP remain in the traffic light - yes or no?
"Don't watch us go under"
It was not the only expression of discontent. Following the poor results in the state elections, 26 local politicians from all over Germany wrote an open letter entitled "Wake-up call freedom". It states that the FDP has made itself an "accomplice to a policy" that is rejected by "over 70 percent of the population". The economy, cutting red tape, energy policy, migration, citizens' income and coronavirus - the traffic light coalition is setting the wrong priorities everywhere.
It can be assumed that there are even more dissatisfied people in the party. Member of the Bundestag Christoph Hoffmann, for example, sharply criticized the traffic light coalition on ntv.de and called for a radical change of course in migration policy. "We can't just stand by and watch as we go under," he said. Although he did not advocate a break in the coalition, he did not rule it out either. FDP MP Frank Scheffler, once known as a harsh critic of the euro bailout, has also repeatedly attacked the coalition, dismissing important SPD and Green plans as "social gimmicks".
Party leader Lindner has already spoken out against leaving the coalition. The FDP would not have much to gain from this either. The polls look bad. In the RTL and ntv trend barometer, the party currently stands at five percent, but has already been below that in recent weeks. The parties of the traffic light coalition have not had their own majority in the polls for a long time. However, a black-yellow coalition, still the preferred constellation of many liberals, is not enough either. In the federal election in the fall of 2021, the Liberals still scored 10.8%.
However, Lindner is no longer a passionate defender of the traffic light. He recently drew attention to himself in Switzerland with this statement: "Now that political realities are forcing me to govern with the Social Democrats and the Greens, I am happy to breathe the air of freedom," he said at the University of Lucerne. It comes as no surprise that the party leadership is also dissatisfied with the traffic light. The differences in content over the past two years, particularly with the Greens, were too great - be it on the ban on combustion engines, nuclear power, the Building Energy Act or basic child protection.
"Better not to govern than to govern wrongly"
There is no more talk of a "progressive coalition" as in the early days of the traffic light system. Lindner now talks a lot about the "political responsibility" that the FDP has taken on. However, many of the party's internal critics might like another Lindner quote better. With the words "Better not to govern than to govern wrongly", he broke off the exploratory talks with the Greens and the CDU/CSU in 2017.
No one among the party's prominent figures expressed any sympathy for the plan from the grassroots. FDP parliamentary group deputy Konstantin Kuhle said on ntv's "Frühstart" that the party would take on responsibility in government and would have to live up to it in difficult times. However, the party leadership is not exactly on a confrontational course either. General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai even showed understanding for the grassroots initiative. "I take every voice seriously," said Djir-Sarai in the ntv program #beisenherz: "These are people who are naturally also concerned: What's next for the FDP? What about the future of the FDP? I mean, these are all legitimate thoughts." Djir-Sarai has since spoken to some of the party's internal critics on the phone: "The people I've spoken to are of the opinion that this coalition or the parties that form this coalition don't fit together. I don't think that's a big surprise now."
Der Spiegel quotes FDP veteran Gerhart Baum as saying that leaving the coalition would be "suicide for fear of death". The rebels at the base are indeed afraid of political death. Because the current situation might seem like déjà vu to some. The last government participation in the form of the black-yellow coalition under Angela Merkel (2009 to 2013) ended traumatically for the party. It was subsequently kicked out of the Bundestag.
The FDP's Traffic light coalition membership survey, initiated by a small group in Hesse, has garnered national attention, requiring only 500 signatures to proceed. As a concerned FDP leader, Christian Lindner should consider this dissatisfaction, especially given the party's poor election results in Hesse and Bavaria.
Bijan Djir-Sarai, the FDP's General Secretary, has shown understanding towards the grassroots initiative, acknowledging the legitimate concerns of party members about the coalition and the future of the FDP.
Source: www.ntv.de
