Opinion
Blockade in the EU
The FDP is losing trust – not just in Brussels
Justice Minister Buschmann, Transport Minister Wissing (both FDP)
© Christian Spicker / Imago Images
The FDP is once again positioning itself against an EU project and is thus slowing down the traffic light coalition. Liberals should actually know better.
And the groundhog greets you every day: the smallest of the three German government parties is blocking again. The The EU wants to reduce emissions of climate-damaging CO2 from trucks and buses, the negotiators have agreed on limit values, and now the FDP is surprisingly against the plan.
This happened for the second time within a few days. Germany will also not be able to agree to the EU supply chain law (which will also be voted on on Friday) because the Liberals have expressed concerns. If a partner in the coalition does not agree, the federal government must abstain from voting at EU level. Things were similar with the combustion ban and the glyphosate decision; approval of the AI laws was in the balance until the last moment.
The FDP should have no illusions
Of course, the FDP has arguments as to why it is not enthusiastic about many EU projects. The supply chain law, for example, is “impractical for companies,” explained Justice Minister Marco Buschmann. He is aware of the “sometimes emotional debate”, but one should concentrate on “factual arguments”. It’s just like this: EU laws are negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers (which is made up of the specialist ministers of the member states). In this case, Germany, in the person of Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), played a key role in shaping the negotiations and ensuring that a compromise was reached. Now Germany of all countries has to abstain in the end.
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The federal government is not only losing credibility and influence in Brussels, the so-called “German vote” already has its own term there. Citizens in Germany can only shake their heads at this spectacle. Can they do anything other than argue?
In the current situation this is fatal: the government is in crisis, its approval ratings are poor and the democratic parties are under pressure from the threat from the extreme right. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) recently called for there to be no more public disputes between the coalition partners – but now, finally! However, the EU shenanigans celebrated by the FDP are the exact opposite of this. The liberals themselves are unlikely to benefit from this in the end either, so they need have no illusions about that.