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FDP leader Christian Lindner in Berlin-Neukölln: He does not want to play in 2021, but on "victory"
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa
Some in the party had waited two and a half years for this speech by Christian Lindner.
It has been two and a half years since the FDP chairman stood in front of the television cameras in a night and fog action and announced the exit from the Jamaica soundings.
The reasons remained vague, the sentence stuck: "It is better not to govern than to govern wrongly."
There is the "eternal question" about Jamaica, he is constantly asked about it, Linder now tells the delegates at the party congress in the hall of the Berlin Estrel Hotel.
"Are you finally admitting that it was a mistake?", But his answer is always: no.
But then Lindner takes a break from art and adds: "I would design the special Jamaica evening a little differently."
He should have ended the negotiations after just 14 days and today would name the five points that are crucial for the FDP to join a coalition.
Then wait two days, let the republic discuss it - and then decide.
"I would do it differently today," admits Lindner.
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FDP party conference in Berlin-Neukölln under Corona conditions: One day for four new elections and one application voting
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa
The FDP chairman's gesture of humility this Saturday is acknowledged by the delegates with applause.
It fits the situation of the party, which is currently in the polls at five percent and has to worry about the federal election next year.
It fits in with the personnel debates of the past few months and the early departure of Secretary General Linda Teuteberg.
The party congress takes place under increased security measures.
In order to be able to meet at all in times of the pandemic, the FDP had to move from its traditional hall in Berlin-Kreuzberg to the Neukölln conference hotel Estrel.
There the around 600 delegates found enough space to sit at a distance.
It was compulsory to wear a mask in the hall, and mouth and nose covers were allowed to be removed from the lectern and delegate seats.
In other respects, too, some things are different: the FDP management changes from a regular party congress to an extraordinary party congress in order to be able to carry out the personnel elections.
Almost a year before the general election, Lindner decided on a partial renovation, which the delegates ultimately follow: Volker Wissing is elected as the new General Secretary, Harald Christ as the treasurer, with Bettina Stark-Watzinger and Lydia Hüskens two women as Assessor to the Presidium.
79-year-old Hermann Otto Solms, who was treasurer for 26 years, is - to his own surprise - proposed by Lindner as honorary chairman and elected unanimously by acclamation.
Nothing gets out of hand that day.
Wissing receives around 83 percent, ten percentage points less than its predecessor Teuteberg in April 2019.
The entrepreneur Christ, who switched from the SPD to the FDP this year after decades of membership, has around 73 percent, almost 20 percentage points less than last Solms.
The results are not great for the two men.
The two new women on the assessors post - Stark-Watzinger with 95 percent and Hüsken with around 87 percent - do much better.
Saying goodbye to Teuteberg is quick and painless
Otherwise, the partial renewal operation went smoothly on this day.
Teuteberg, who had to vacate her post as general secretary prematurely at Lindner's request, only speaks in the general debate and only briefly.
She does not go into the circumstances of her departure, she only says this much: "It was an honor and mostly a pleasure."
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Former FDP general secretary Linda Teuteberg at the party conference in Berlin-Neukölln: "It was an honor and mostly a pleasure"
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa
Lindner is also tight when it comes to Teuteberg: he offered her a different position in July (Lindner had offered her the position of Eastern Commissioner in the Presidium, which he did not say at the party congress), but she decided otherwise.
He thanks her for her work and repeats his sentence that she remains a "strong part of our team".
One passage, however, went wrong for him: He liked to think about the fact that in the past 15 months the day had been "started together" about 300 times, which led to laughter in the hall.
Lindner takes a break, shakes his head, he speaks about her daily morning phone call on the political situation - "not what you think now".
Teuteberg sits down on the delegate's chairs and lets go of the farewell.
Your farewell is also symbolically different than usual because of the Corona rules. The flowers, says Lindner and it sounds apologetic, would be "sent to the office this time".
Lindner's message: Ready for government responsibility
In Berlin-Neukölln the delegates experience a rather atypical Lindner.
No really sharp attacks against the competition, his sentence against the grand coalition is one of the sharpest points: "Every morning when I get up and see what Olaf Scholz and Peter Altmaier are doing, I have new motivation to make sure that a different policy will be made next year. "
Some delegates also noticed the restraint over long distances, the former July chairman Lasse Becker praised Lindner for the "tonality" of his speech, calling it "self-reflective".
The way to a future government responsibility, that should be Lindner's actual message.
Away from the allegations of many media that his party dodged itself from taking over government three years ago.
The goal is that the "Free Democrats are needed to form a majority in the German Bundestag".
One is ready to take on responsibility, but "we are not forming a coalition with the Left Party" and there can be no "cooperation" with the AfD.
His personal goal is not to play for space, but to win.
Lindner therefore considers his days as chairman to be numbered if he does not make it into government after the next election.
Most polls, however, currently see the Liberals at five percent.
One of the few who openly addresses the discontent is the new leader of the Young Liberals (Julis).
"Self-criticism is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength," said Jens Teutrine and thanks Lindner for his words about Jamaica.
It is very good that Lindner has led the way.
The 28-year-old is dissatisfied with the results of the European and local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.
But, according to his conciliatory sentence, the Julis did not want to be the "know-it-alls" but rather the "doers better".
A new experiment is now beginning for Lindner.
He has identified the economy in the Corona crisis as one of the central issues of the coming period.
Wissing, Minister of Economics in Rhineland-Palatinate in a traffic light coalition with the SPD and the Greens, should carry the messages of the FDP louder into the country than Teuteberg.
"He can campaign, he can government, he can liberalism," calls out Lindner into the hall.
Wissing's speech is almost exclusively about taxes, finances and economics.
The 50-year-old, who recently praised the SPD in his home country and is being watched suspiciously in parts of the party because of the traffic lights, prefers not to repeat his praise for his coalition partner.
Instead, he makes a passionate plea for a liberal financial policy.
"It is political megalomania to believe that the economy can be permanently attached to the state's drip," he says.
You need a "new founding age, not a new cosiness" and want to "use the strength of the individual to give everyone a chance".
He describes his role as Secretary General as follows: He wants to work passionately to ensure that people "understand and respect our attitude".
For Wissing and Lindner there are now decisive months ahead.
"Yes, of course, we don't have good polls," says Lindner in Berlin, saying that his party has always been up and down.
"But is that a crisis," the FDP leader asks the delegates a rhetorical question and answers them himself right away. No, his party doesn't have that: "We know what it's all about."
Behind him, on the wall, is the self-commitment, like something out of a science fiction film: "Mission Aufbruch".
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