parties
Lindner is aiming for a double-digit result in the federal election
Despite low polls, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is optimistic about the next federal election. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
The FDP is in the polls, but party leader Lindner is betting that this will change by the next federal election. He does not see leaving the traffic light coalition early as an option.
Lindner has been chairman of the FDP since December 2013. Shortly before, the Liberals had missed entry into the Bundestag. Current surveys see the party at between four and five percent; in the 2021 federal election it was 11.4 percent.
After the election, Lindner became Federal Finance Minister in the traffic light coalition made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP. Despite the ongoing dispute, the finance minister does not see the alliance as being at risk. “Germany is governed in a stable manner, despite all the differences that exist,” he said.
“I would like quieter opinion-forming” in the coalition
Nevertheless, Lindner does not want to avoid substantive debates. “Yes, there is discussion. I would like to see opinions formed more quietly within the coalition. But I will not be prepared to avoid arguments about the price of pursuing social democratic or green politics,” the FDP leader made clear. Lindner contradicted the accusation that the FDP was running an opposition within the coalition. “Who is the opposition in the coalition: Those who continually question the coalition agreement? Or the FDP, which sticks to the agreements that have been made? We are talking about three different parties in the coalition. It is an effort every day to live up to this voter mandate .”
From Lindner’s point of view, the FDP is shaping the government “more strongly than the eleven percent election result would have expected.” “However, every day I see the limits of what can be achieved in this coalition,” added the FDP leader. He also acknowledged fundamental differences between the Liberals and the Greens. “Nevertheless, it is true that FDP supporters are particularly at odds with the Greens because they have completely different basic beliefs than we do,” he said.
But Lindner doesn’t want to let the coalition collapse. When the interviewer pointed out that he could give up power and leave the coalition, the finance minister said: “As we know, I have no problem with giving up power if the content is not correct. But as long as the result in the legal gazette is good, there is “There was no justification for this. What followed then? A torturous process full of uncertainty.”