The agenda of the 74th ordinary federal party conference of the FDP provides for the statement of accounts by the federal chairman for Friday afternoon – which Christian Lindner seems to be taking literally. For almost ninety minutes, he takes stock of the work of the liberals in the traffic light coalition. He uses his speech for announcements to the climate stickers, but above all for a clear demarcation from the Union and for tips against the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), whom he accuses of “camouflage, tricks and deception”. Söder’s fickleness is “not a sympathetic ‘Mia san mia’, but an ‘I’m going crazy'”.
The traffic light – even after almost a year and a half, it is only moderately popular with many liberals. No wonder. None of the three governing parties suffered as many electoral defeats as the FDP since Berlin was governed by red-green-yellow. Recently, the liberals have been more scratchy within the government, from the e-fuels dispute to the heating debate. At the party congress, however, Lindner did not up the ante. Rather the opposite.
In his speech, he clearly marked the positions of his party, also in contrast to the Greens and the SPD. Nevertheless, Lindner ultimately remained more statesmanlike, focused on the content. He didn’t even talk about the lost elections of the past year; he only spoke about the next three, which could also be tricky, in the last third of his speech.
The FDP leader’s most important message to the Social Democrats and the Greens: Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner wants to remain tough on budgetary and financial policy. There is already an “imbalance between past and future” in the budget. In the current financial year he already has to spend 40 billion euros on interest on debt, 36 billion more than in 2021. Now the “boomerang of the unsound financial policy of the CDU” is coming back. Sticking to the debt brake, according to Lindner, is not just a constitutional command, but a “commandment of economic prudence”.
What does that mean for the traffic light coalition’s scarce leeway? Using the example of the basic child security plan planned by Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens), Lindner points out that citizen income has already been introduced and the standard rates have been increased, as have child benefits and child supplements. While Paus is calling for the benefits to be expanded, he recommends discussing the “accuracy” of the existing aid and using digitized and simple administrative procedures to ensure that all those entitled receive the benefits.
Elsewhere, for example in the Bundeswehr, Lindner also sees “inevitable necessities” in terms of budgetary technology. In principle, however, the coalition must face the fact that “some things may be desirable, but at least currently cannot be financed”. It is true that “wealth must first be generated before it can be distributed”. Getting by with the money is also necessary in order to slow down inflation, a “tough beast” whose fight, according to Lindner, must have priority, since it is a “program to impoverish the broad middle of society”. He himself prefers to use tax incentives such as better depreciation to boost the German economy – which, however, is much less enthusiastic for the Greens and SPD.
Lindner: Climate activists should found a party
Lindner remains tame with regard to the dispute over the Building Energy Act, in which the Green Economics Minister Robert Habeck wants to anchor rules for the replacement of heating systems. He only says that the draft passed by the cabinet is “not yet what should ultimately be decided by the Bundestag”. Even in the discussion after Lindner’s speech, the reactions remained tame, with only a few delegates expressing criticism of the law as a whole.
From Lindner’s point of view, the direction for his party has been mapped out by the dispute over the end of the combustion engine. With the argument of openness to technology, the FDP had prevailed that vehicles that are exclusively operated with climate-neutral synthetic fuels can also be registered after 2035.
Lindner also received the most applause for his statement that life with a combustion engine in the Thuringian Forest was no better or worse than with a cargo bike in Prenzlauer Berg. These are simply free life choices. Anyone who wants climate neutrality can only achieve this with the consent of the population. He called on climate activists to set up a party and seek majorities for their positions. Road blockades, on the other hand, are “physical violence”.
In any case, the delegates seem to be satisfied – they applaud three and a half minutes standing and confirm Lindner in office with 88 percent yes votes; two years ago he had received 93 percent. That should be worth Lindner’s participation in the government. Wolfgang Kubicki, first deputy party leader and valued by many among the Liberals for his clear word at the base, has to be satisfied with 72 percent approval; he had received 88 percent in the previous election.