parties
FDP member survey lets traffic light parties breathe a sigh of relief
The result of the FDP member survey is considered an important picture of the mood. photo
© picture alliance / Armin Weigel/dpa
The FDP asked its members about remaining in the traffic light coalition. A majority of participants want to stay. This means support for party leader Lindner’s course.
However, only 26,058 of around 72,100 members took part in the survey. According to the FDP, 65,899 were eligible to vote. According to the FDP, this resulted in a participation of 39.54 percent.
The party leadership around its chairman, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, had campaigned for the coalition and is now seeing the result as a tailwind for itself. Nevertheless, governing the traffic light is unlikely to become any easier, as a number of problems remain unresolved.
The FDP federal executive board started the survey on December 18th after 598 members submitted a request to carry it out. Members were able to participate online for two weeks. The question was: “Should the FDP end the coalition with the SPD and the Greens as part of the federal government?” The answer could be “yes” or “no”.
The members’ vote has no practical consequences. Because the statutes also say: “The party’s organs are not bound in their decision-making to the results of the member survey.” The result is therefore considered a mood picture.
Reactions to the member survey
One of the initiators of the member survey, Matthias Nölke, continues to push for a new course for the Liberals. “The result is a clear sign of the dissatisfaction in the party,” said the Kassel FDP district chairman of the German Press Agency. The party leadership must take this into account in its future actions in the traffic light government.
However, FDP party leader Christian Lindner sees the result of the member survey on remaining in the traffic light coalition as a “clear mandate to continue to show a liberal profile in government action.” This is what the Federal Minister of Finance wrote on X (formerly: Twitter) after the result was announced. He sees the outcome of the vote “as an expression of responsibility for Germany.”
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai wrote in a statement: “Never before have so many party members taken part in the FDP’s internal opinion-forming process.” The survey made it clear that the party wants to “take responsibility for and shape our country.” The members wanted “a clear liberal handwriting in government policy”.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) wrote on Platform X, formerly Twitter: “A majority of the FDP base wants the party to continue to assume responsibility.” He put the participation at “almost 40 percent”.
The FDP vice-chairman Wolfgang Kubicki sees the party strengthened by the survey results. “It’s a good result because it shows both the will to stay in the traffic lights and the will to change,” said Kubicki to the German Press Agency. “This result gives us support for a confident course within and with the traffic lights.”
The CSU sees the federal government in a deep crisis after the FDP base’s narrow vote to remain in the coalition with the SPD and the Greens and is once again pushing for new elections. “The FDP is completely torn and therefore unable to act in the long term,” said CSU General Secretary Martin Huber to the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “A narrow majority is clinging to remaining in power and is therefore missing an opportunity for the urgently needed new beginning.”
Joining the coalition with the SPD and the Greens was controversial in parts of the FDP from the start. The result could initially pacify the discussion within the party. And the traffic light partners would also benefit from this. After all, government policy has recently been repeatedly overshadowed by disputes.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had also expressed criticism of the coalition’s performance in recent months. “Discussions about the right path are part of it. The struggle for fair compromises is also part of it – even if I could have done without some of the loud debates in the past weeks and months,” said the SPD politician in his New Year’s speech.
However, a democracy cannot function without discussions about the right path. “Nothing will get better if we just talk about each other instead of with each other. What makes us strong is our willingness to compromise.”
Debate week on the budget is coming up
The traffic light government must continue to demonstrate a willingness to compromise in the coming weeks and months. After the Federal Constitutional Court’s budget ruling, the coalition continues to argue about the budget for 2024. According to the government’s plans, the Bundestag’s budget committee is supposed to vote on the changes and planned cuts in its draft budget in mid-January. A week of debate on the budget and the final decision are planned in the Bundestag at the end of January. The budget could then pass the Federal Council at the beginning of February. It is unclear whether the schedule can be maintained.
And the issue of migration also remains a huge challenge for the traffic light coalition. According to a survey, more than two thirds do not trust the federal government to come up with solutions. In the survey by the Yougov opinion research institute for “Welt am Sonntag”, around 69 percent of the 2,000 respondents said that they “not at all” or “not at all” believed the traffic light could do this. Around 23 percent said they “somewhat” or “completely” believed the government coalition could do this. Around 9 percent answered “don’t know.”