Martin Hagen gets loud, talks himself into a rage, fights. The parliamentary group leader of the FDP in the state parliament is on stage in the Upper Franconian Hall in Bayreuth, it is his application speech to also become state chairman. The fight is less the favor of the delegates, he is the only candidate and in the smoking area bets are run beforehand as to how much more than 90 percent he will get. No, the fight is against the CSU and free voters, the state government. Hagen uses the word itself: “Kampfansage.”
Citizens, he says, “have had enough of filth and self-centeredness. Citizens have had enough of a government that does not do its homework.” Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) will now “lead a two-year long-term election campaign against the traffic light policy in the federal government”, Söder is not about the country, but only about the power of the CSU. To Hubert Aiwanger: “Unfortunately, the office of Bavarian Minister of Economics feels vacant.” In the end, it will be 93.4 percent, and Martin Hagen will succeed Daniel Föst as the new party leader.
Of course, the current traffic light negotiations in Berlin are hovering over this state party conference at the weekend. In the conversation on the sidelines, one hears the announcement from many delegates that the liberals must remain tough on key points, such as “not to drag the debt brake”. Föst, member of the Bundestag and involved, says that the motto of the party congress applies to the rounds in Berlin: “Welcome to the future makers.” The Liberals did not negotiate for company car posts and civil servants’ pensions, but to forge a hands-on alliance. “The spirit is great,” he reports from the negotiations. Föst is outraged by Söder’s saying about the “free south and traffic light north”. That was “gibberish”, he was wondering when Söder would be “embarrassing” his own party. In 2023, after the historically worst result of the federal election, the CSU will also reach a new low point in the country, and his FDP will “take care of it”.
The change at the top seems logical
Because almost everything in Bayreuth revolves around that year 2023 – the next state election. The momentum of the federal elections should bring an upturn. The FDP even sees the latest polls for the state elections in double digits. Strategically it should have come to the consideration that Föst will withdraw and that the Hagen parliamentary group and party chairmanship will be bundled. On the stage in Bayreuth – a little yellow, but above all bright magenta dominates the backdrop – rising arrows in the color shine behind the desk. Does this mean the party mantra of advancement through achievement or the hoped-for development as a political factor? Possibly both.
In fact, the change at the top seems logical. Martin Hagen, 40 years old, has made himself heard as the chairman of the smallest parliamentary group in the state parliament, which moved in 2018 with just 5.1 percent from the extra-parliamentary opposition to the Maximilianeum. He is one of the most talented speakers in the state parliament, when a topic pops up, he often quickly and reliably delivers the most striking sentence of the day. In larger groups you can regularly hear envy about Hagen’s media presence and clout. As a parliamentarian in Berlin, Föst was always less on the screen in the Free State. Nevertheless, it has brought calm to the shop for over eight years, and also stands for some successes in elections and a strong increase in membership.
The fact that the FDP was able to establish itself was certainly also due to its critical stance on the measures in the pandemic. At first, it hadn’t paid off, with a view to electoral approval. In state parliament polls, the FDP was below the five percent hurdle throughout 2020. They acted “in the best tradition of a liberal civil rights party,” says Hagen, explaining the development in the pandemic as follows: “Our course in the corona crisis was right on the matter, but at the time simply did not correspond to the mood in the country . ” But the FDP “did not allow itself to be knocked over by the headwind” – this is how one “gained profile and credibility”.
It is important to “overcome the mildew of the Merkel years”
The mood among the delegates is excellent, and at the end of the day, the entire party congress is like a mutual pat on the back. Figuratively, the Corona rules naturally also apply here. In the past, the FDP was by no means always so closed, Föst recalls the times when one “fell upon one another”. If you ask around, you will hear satisfaction everywhere. Even notorious FDP grumblers have no worries, at most about curfew in Bayreuth pubs. Much harmony also in the open discussion. Maximilian Funke-Kaiser, head of the Young Liberals and new member of the Bundestag, is upset that the FDP’s strong result is being neglected by other parties among young voters. It said, “They didn’t know what to choose, they just wanted to go out to celebrate”. But that is not true, he has always met well-informed first-time voters in the election campaign. The former Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Martin Zeil, praised the “steadfastness” of his party in the pandemic, and now it is important to “overcome the mildew of the Merkel years”.
The honorary chairwoman Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger urges the party friends to occupy the subject of the environment, “as an effectively acting state, not as a nanny state”. And in the FDP, as has happened in the past, freedom and fundamental rights should “not be dismissed with a smile as orchid issues”. The SPD and the Greens could not embody this, “they serve their special subjects”, whereas freedom is “in the DNA” of the Liberals.
Long-running favorite at the party congress: digitization. Thematically. And in practice. The delegates vote using a tool on their mobile phones. The wifi in the hall is stubborn, hotspots with neighbors are to be set up, individual delegates seem a bit overwhelmed. For Daniel Föst reason to refer again to the Berlin negotiations: “As long as we don’t have the infrastructure under control, digitization will fail.”