Suddenly an engine hums and Martin Hagen turns the corner at his FDP’s campaign presentation in an unusual car: a DeLorean DMC-12 from the “Back to the Future” films more than three decades ago. With glowing tubes and all kinds of equipment for a journey through time. According to Hagen, the gag for the campaign is intended to say: “We are bringing the future back into state politics.” The future state government would like to “welcome the future with open arms” as a driver for modernization and openness to technology and as the guardian of individual freedom. The main slogan on the posters next to it is: “Hello, Hello Future”.
The FDP wants to enter the state parliament again in the October election and would ideally like to co-govern. Certainly not a sure-fire success, but the former: the party is almost reliably polled at four percent. And until the end of August there are no signs that the big upswing is imminent. The Mission Five Percent Hurdle is Martin Hagen’s job. He is state chairman and parliamentary group leader in the state parliament. And top candidate.
The 42-year-old – born in Italy to German parents and raised in the Rosenheim district – joined the Young Liberals as a teenager, studied political science in Munich, then worked as managing director of the Bavarian FDP, but also as an independent communications consultant. Communication is actually Hagen’s strength: ready-to-print speech anytime and anywhere, often clever formulations that stand out. Somehow you’ve never heard this man searching for words before; he’s one of the best speakers in parliament. With him, the FDP narrowly made it into the state parliament in 2018, with 5.1 percent – after previously spending five years in the extra-parliamentary opposition. In 2018, the SZ once called Martin Hagen “the Bayern-Lindner”, which we hear really pleased him. Hagen also took over the state chairmanship in 2021. He is the figurehead of the Liberals.
The starting position for the FDP wouldn’t actually be that bad: a lot of attention from its alert top man; and a parliamentary group, the smallest with twelve representatives, which stands out for its hard work. For example, the committee of inquiry into the financing of the Nuremberg Future Museum and the role of Prime Minister Markus Söder was ultimately thanks to the persistence of the FDP. In the debates about the Corona measures, she was the most visible opposition in the democratic center. In surveys, the Liberals are even given more authority when it comes to the core issue of economics and finance than the Free Voters, who at least provide the Economics Minister, Hubert Aiwanger.
So far, none of this has been possible to translate into survey percentages. Which is probably very much due to the traffic light image damage. Hagen therefore expressly does not place his party in a camp with the SPD and the Greens, but sees the CSU as a potential partner – but at the same time there should be “no cozy approach” towards Söder. A tightrope walk, the outcome is open. “Hello, future” is the slogan – and in Bavaria, unfortunately, people like to say hello when they say goodbye.