FDP party congress on coalition agreement: Free passage towards the traffic lights?

The day after the SPD said yes to the traffic light, the FDP now has to make a decision. The approval is considered certain – because, from their point of view, the party negotiated well and secured prominent ministries.

The FDP’s approval of the coalition agreement with the SPD and the Greens is considered certain. Free passage in terms of traffic lights, that could be the unspoken subtitle for this special party conference of the Liberals. The proportion of the FDP demands fulfilled in the coalition agreement should satisfy the members: no higher taxes, no speed limit, no end to private health insurance, to name just three examples.

The heads of the party have long since signaled their approval, i.e. the federal executive board and the presidium of the FDP. The party congress takes place digitally. Only the leading figures of the party committees, a small team for the organization and a few media people will be physically present at the venue in a conference hall on Berlin’s Gleisdreieck.

Everything is thus similar to the previous party convention in mid-May, when the members were connected from their study, kitchen-living room or wherever. Since then, the liberals have come an interesting path – namely from an election campaign that was quite clearly led in the direction of a Jamaica coalition with the CDU and CSU, to the current decision-making process on traffic lights.

In their opinion, the FDP negotiated well

Party leader Christian Lindner sounded extremely optimistic on Wednesday eight days ago when he announced the result of the coalition talks. He spoke of a “government of the middle” which was now being formed and which would “lead the country forward”. According to Lindner, the three parties would complement each other with their content.

The Free Democrats have negotiated a lot: prominent ministries and a lot of influence on money and thus on the fulfillment of their campaign promises. At the top is probably the post of Federal Minister of Finance for FDP boss Lindner. That means a lot of control over the financial headroom of virtually every other ministry, including investments.

Speaking of which: the ministry with the largest volume of future investments also goes to the FDP, namely the transport and digital ministry headed by Volker Wissing. There are also opportunities here for digital expansion, i.e. a lot of possible plus points for a popular topic – while at the same time maintaining the influence on rail and road construction and the automotive industry.

The justice and education departments also promise to influence key issues. Marco Buschmann and Bettina Stark-Watzinger will lead these ministries as planned.

If they agree, only the Greens are missing

Everyone who comes to the cabinet for the FDP is supposed to give a speech at this special party conference. Party leader Lindner starts in the morning, the final comment comes just a few hours later from the still incumbent Secretary General and Minister-designate Volker Wissing.

After the SPD already approved the coalition agreement yesterday at its own special party conference, if the FDP approves it, only the Greens are missing so that the traffic lights can start. The deadline for the strike vote of the green party base expires on Monday at 1 p.m. According to plan, the election of the chancellor is to take place in the Bundestag on Wednesday, followed by the appointment of the cabinet members.