FDP leader Lindner controls the Liberal party conference for a good hour. He calls on the coalition partners to correct course. But he leaves no doubt that he wants the traffic light to be successful.
FDP leader Christian Lindner has called on the traffic light partners to put Germany’s economic recovery at the center of the coalition’s work.
At the federal party conference in Berlin, he warned of the country’s decline and negative consequences for prosperity and social cohesion. “If a country falls from 6th place in terms of competitiveness to 22nd place in ten years, what is more urgent than a change?” he said to more than 600 delegates at the FDP federal party conference in Berlin. “Because in the next few years our ambition must be to return to the top of the world from 22.”
Does Lindner set itself apart from the traffic light partners?
Lindner’s speech was eagerly awaited after proposals from the FDP to stimulate the economy through tax relief and tightening social benefits had particularly angered the SPD. Before the federal party conference, the FDP presidium had approved a twelve-point plan “to accelerate the economic turnaround”. This fueled speculation as to whether the traffic light would last because of the completely different positions of the SPD, Greens and FDP.
However, in his more than hour-long speech, Lindner made it clear at several points that he wants the traffic light coalition 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 – this is also not a good time to pull the ripcord and let the traffic light burst. The FDP party leadership also assumes that voters who are willing to change have migrated to the Union, but can also be won back.
FDP wants to make recovery the central task
The FDP is now fully committed to economic competence, maintaining prosperity and opportunities for high-achieving and talented people: “We actually have the brains. We have the know-how, we have the capital, but our country too often gets in its own way.” said Lindner. And he described an embarrassing moment on the international stage: At a meeting of finance ministers and central bank heads from 190 nations last week, a slide on global weak growth was illustrated with a street scene on Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse.
The FDP chairman blamed EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) for excessive administrative burdens in companies. “Bureaucratic stress has a first name: Ursula.”
Criticism of the Green Party Minister Paus
Lindner once again called for the solidarity surcharge to be completely abolished. “Before we let Karlsruhe force us for legal reasons to have to forego the solidarity immediately and without a plan, we should rather make the clear political decision to forego it step by step in a planned manner,” he said.
Lindner also took up the concept of basic child security from Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) and criticized the fact that up to 5,000 additional jobs would have to be created for this. And according to a study commissioned by your ministry, up to 70,000 people would leave the workforce because they no longer have an incentive to work. There is nothing against basic child welfare if the mutually agreed conditions are met, he said. However, Lindner spoke out in favor of investing the money differently: “Wouldn’t it be better to use these billions in more, high-quality child care so that no one stays part-time against their own will because they know that the children are well accommodated.”
Lindner does not want any further expansion of the Bundeswehr on credit
The Federal Finance Minister promised Ukraine further German help in its defense against Russia. This is also in Germany’s own interest. “We support Ukraine because it is our first line of defense against Putin,” said Lindner. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine – “but he means all of us and our way of life.”
Putin not only wants to remove Ukraine from the map, he also wants to divide Europe and NATO and ensure that the USA withdraws from Europe, warned Lindner. “Putin’s goal is not Ukraine. Putin’s goal is to be able to exercise power over us. And he must never be able to do that.”
It is necessary to improve one’s own ability to defend the country and alliance. The 100 billion special fund for the Bundeswehr will be used up in a few years, then the armed forces will have to be trained using regular resources. This will not work with ever new debts. “The task that stands before us, to defend peace and freedom in Germany, Europe and the world, is not limited to a few quarters or years. It is potentially a task for decades and generations,” said Lindner. “And that’s why this can’t be done on credit. We need our economic strength to do this.”
Warnings from the SPD
Before the party conference, SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken invoked the commonalities of the coalition project and warned the Free Democrats against fostering doubts about cohesion. “In view of the current international crises, it would be contrary to state political responsibility to weaken the German position by questioning the coalition,” Esken told the editorial network Germany (RND).
She added: “We still have a lot of plans to do together. And despite all the differences, you shouldn’t forget that a lot of things will be decided and implemented without any arguments.” The SPD leader referred to the founding idea of the traffic light alliance: “We formed this coalition with a lot of courage – and also out of state political responsibility. The idea was that very different partners could advance the country precisely by putting their different ideas together .”