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Rülke wants to govern in 2026: but without the Greens

The Liberals in the south-west are flirting with an alliance with the Christian Democrats - more than ever after the change of power at the top of the CDU. They do not want to have anything to do with the Greens.

Hans-Ulrich-Rülke, leader of the FDP parliamentary group in Baden-Württemberg. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de
Hans-Ulrich-Rülke, leader of the FDP parliamentary group in Baden-Württemberg. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

State election - Rülke wants to govern in 2026: but without the Greens

Yellow-black rapprochement: FDP parliamentary group leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke is aiming for a coalition with the CDU after the 2026 state elections. "I have had a very productive exchange with Mr. Hagel. There is sufficient trust for a joint coalition," Rülke told the German Press Agency in Stuttgart. "It is good for the state that the CDU once again has a state chairman who claims to lead the state himself," he said of the recently elected CDU state chairman Manuel Hagel.

Rülke combined this praise with criticism of Hagel's predecessor at the helm of the Christian Democrats, Thomas Strobl: "I also believe that the new CDU state chairman has not planned for himself the role of sneaking around Baden-Württemberg as the body owner of the Greens like his predecessor."

In the past, Rülke had repeatedly toyed with the idea of a German coalition in Baden-Württemberg, an alliance between the CDU, FDP and SPD. The FDP parliamentary group leader has now said that there is less overlap with the SPD than with the CDU. But there are overlaps here too, so that nothing would stand in the way of cooperation. Apart from the AfD, he can least imagine an alliance with the Greens in the south-west: "I would like to co-govern with the FDP in the state after 2026, preferably with the Greens in opposition."

Rülke emphasized that the Greens would not end up ahead of the CDU in 2026 without Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann 's bonus in office. Kretschmann had announced that he would not be running again after his third term in office.

After the 2021 state elections, the FDP and SPD tried to persuade Kretschmann to form a traffic light alliance. However, he opted for a new coalition with the CDU.

Rülke believes that Kretschmann has achieved nothing as head of government in more than a decade. "In my view, those were lost years for Baden-Württemberg." Rülke cited education as an example, where Baden-Württemberg is going downhill even more steeply than other federal states. Or the expansion of renewable energies, which is hardly making any progress. "Mr. Kretschmann is quite good at naming scapegoats. It's Mr. Altmaier's fault that he can't manage wind turbines. It's the federal government's fault that he doesn't have enough money. But I don't see where Mr. Kretschmann is supposed to have brought the state forward," said Rülke.

Rülke concluded that things could not get any worse in state politics. Rülke is also not very optimistic about Kretschmann's remaining term of office until the state elections in 2026: "It has been 13 lost years for the state. Now there will probably be two more lost years."

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Source: www.stern.de

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