Suddenly an engine hums, Martin Hagen turns the campaign presentation of his FDP in an unusual car around the corner: a DeLorean DMC-12 from the Back to the Future movies more than three decades ago. With glowing hoses and all sorts of equipment for a journey through time. According to Hagen, the gag for the campaign should say: “We are bringing the future back into state politics.” The future state government wants to “welcome the future with open arms” as the motor for modernization and openness to technology and as the guardian of individual freedom. On the posters next to it is the main slogan: “Servus Zukunft”.
The FDP wants to re-enter the state parliament in the October elections and would like to have a say in government. Truly not a sure-fire success, even the former: the party is almost reliably at four percent in polls. And until the end of August there are no signs that the big rebound is imminent. The mission five percent hurdle is the job of Martin Hagen. He is state chairman, faction 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 a freelance communications consultant. Communication is actually Hagen’s strength: ready-for-print speech always and everywhere, often clever formulations that stand out. You’ve somehow never heard this man searching for words, he’s one of the best speakers in Parliament. With him, the FDP just barely made it into the state parliament in 2018, 5.1 percent – after spending five years in the extra-parliamentary opposition. In 2018, the SZ called Martin Hagen “the Bayern Lindner”, which, one hears, is said to have pleased him very much. Hagen also took over the state presidency in 2021. He’s the figurehead of the Liberals.
The starting position for the FDP wouldn’t actually be that bad: a lot of attention from their alert top man; and a parliamentary group, the smallest with 13 deputies, which stands out for its eagerness to work. For example, the committee of inquiry into the financing of the Nuremberg Future Museum and the role played by Prime Minister Markus Söder were ultimately due 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 powers when it comes to the core issue of economy and finance than the free voters, who after all appoint the economics minister, Hubert Aiwanger.
So far, it has not been possible to convert all of this into survey percentages. Which is probably very much due to the traffic light image damage. Hagen therefore expressly does not locate his party in a camp with the SPD and the Greens, sees the CSU as a potential partner – but at the same time there should be “no cuddles” towards Söder. A tightrope walk, exit open. “Servus Zukunft” is the slogan – and in Bavaria, unfortunately, people like to say “Servus” when they say goodbye.