Federal party conference
FDP wants to tailor the traffic light course entirely to the economic turnaround
“The economic transition is the best democracy promotion law you can have”: FDP leader Christian Lindner. photo
© Hannes P Albert/dpa
The FDP is rallying around chairman Lindner. He makes it clear that he doesn’t want the bang of the traffic lights, but rather a tough economic course. Criticism of the SPD and the Greens is only moderate.
Promoting growth, tax cuts and no new social benefits: FDP leader Christian Lindner received the full support of the federal Liberal party conference with his call for an “economic turnaround” for Germany. The Federal Finance Minister called on the SPD and the Greens to make an economic recovery the priority of the joint coalition. Lindner warned of the country’s decline with negative consequences for prosperity and social cohesion.
On Saturday, more than 600 delegates decided on a key proposal from the Federal Executive Board regarding the economic policy demands. The twelve-point paper on which it is based, aimed at stimulating the economy through tax relief and tightening social benefits, caused anger, especially among the SPD. “If a country falls from 6th place in competitiveness to 22nd place in ten years, what is more urgent than a turnaround?” said Lindner. “Because in the next few years our ambition must be to return from 22 to the top of the world.” The delegates applauded Lindner for three and a half minutes for his speech.
On Sunday, his general secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai followed up. He warned that Germany should not continue to fall further behind in competition. “The next few years must not be years of crisis. Rather, they must once again be years of recovery and prosperity.”
No break with the coalition partners: Lindner protects the traffic lights
Lindner’s speech was eagerly awaited after the anger in the coalition over the twelve-point paper. However, the FDP leader made it clear at several points in his more than hour-long speech that he wants the traffic light alliance to be successful, not a premature end. He repeatedly attacked the Union sharply. His party won 11.5 percent of the vote in the last federal election and is now only languishing at 5 percent in polls. This means that a return to the Bundestag would not be certain at the moment.
FDP wants to make recovery the central task
Lindner described Germany as an economically declining country. The medium-term growth prospects a few years ago were still 1.5 percent and have now fallen to 0.5 percent of gross domestic product. In the USA it is 2 percent annually. On the sidelines of the party conference, he announced the goal of raising this value in Germany to 1 percent. The success of all three parties and their projects depends on the economy.
“We actually have the brains. We have the know-how. We have the capital. But our country too often gets in its own way,” criticized Lindner in the party conference speech. “We have to clear the way for ourselves because we have no time to lose.”
From Lindner’s perspective, economic decline is also a risk for democracy. People who have the feeling that they are threatened with decline or that others are making progress more easily than themselves would critically question the democratic framework. “The economic transition is the best democracy promotion law you can have.”
Overall, criticism of the traffic light partners remains cautious
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki called on the partners SPD and Greens to talk about the FDP concept. “I can only make an urgent appeal from here: start talks with us. Because if there is no discussion, there will be no future for this coalition.” However, breaking up the coalition, which was unpopular with many in the FDP base, was not an issue at the party conference. “Get out of the traffic lights” was only heard from one delegate – he received no applause for this. The FDP criticism of individual traffic light projects such as the concept of basic child welfare by Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) did not go beyond the usual level.
Strack-Zimmermann takes on von der Leyen
While the FDP clearly did not want to put any further strain on the coalition climate, they shot even more conspicuously against the Union. One reason is certainly the ongoing European election campaign, another is that the FDP leadership assumes that it has lost voter potential, especially to the CDU/CSU, which needs to be brought back.
The FDP chairman blamed EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) for the excessive administrative burden in companies. “Bureaucratic stress in our country has a first name: And that is Ursula.” Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann added: “I cannot reduce the bureaucracy in federal law as quickly as Ursula von der Leyen produced afterwards.”
Europe’s top candidate Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann also took on von der Leyen. “In the IHK company barometer for the European elections, only five percent of German industrial companies said that the EU had become more attractive as a location in the last five years,” she said. “After such a vote of no confidence in our economy, how can one simply want to run for re-election as Commission President?”