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FDP leader Christian Lindner at the special party conference in Berlin: "Guarantor for the Middle"
Photo: ANNEGRET HILSE / REUTERS
As soon as the extraordinary party convention of the FDP has started in Berlin, there is the first little excitement: Eager young liberals suspect on Twitter that the TV broadcaster Phoenix would rather broadcast the speech of the Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock at the election party convention of the Greens than that of its own party chairman Christian Lindner .
The station's decision on this Sunday is probably due to the almost hour delay with which Lindner enters the stage in Berlin's Estrel Hotel.
In general: party congresses so shortly before the federal election are PR events, both at the FDP and the Greens.
This can be seen, for example, when the liberals, strangely enough, decide on their "election call" before the "debate".
Lindner's speech is anything but extraordinary at first.
He largely serves the set pieces with which he has also tried to convince the voters in the seats of the republic in recent months: better education, digitization, sticking to the debt brake, no tax increases and no bans, especially not in climate policy.
Is it worth the effort of asking 522 delegates to come to Berlin?
A party congress, especially one week before the election, is mainly about self-assurance.
For example, Lindner outlined the image of a liberal feel-good bullerbus for the FDP campaigners in his speech and worked his way through the other parties.
Although he pays respect to the SPD election campaign ("impressive, extremely skilled in terms of craftsmanship"), he criticizes the Social Democrats' election program, such as the pension policy of the SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz.
At least Lindner praises him for rejecting the green idea of loosening the debt brake.
Gracious to patronizing with the Greens
In the case of the Greens, the FDP leader takes on the green co-chairman Robert Habeck.
He wants to take the negative connotation from national debt.
Lindner calls Habeck the "potential finance minister", but this time refrains from repeating his own claim to the finance department - later FDP general secretary Volker Wissing takes on that.
On this day, Lindner treats the Greens in a more gracious or patronizing manner.
"You can also assist the Greens in how they can better finance their meaningful projects without increasing taxes and loosening the debt brake." Those who like can see an outstretched hand in such statements, at least for after election day next Sunday.
Until then, the Greens are tough competitors for Lindner for third place.
“We have a decisive influence when we shorten the distance to the Greens.
Then we have the chance to influence the formation of the coalition and the content, «Lindner calls into the hall in Berlin.
Attacks against the SPD and the Greens are part of the standard repertoire of the chief liberal.
What is new is the sharpness towards the Union on the final meters of the election campaign.
The CDU and CSU are said to be "gutted and disagreed".
It is true that in many basic convictions the Liberals and the Union are closer, but "one has the feeling that the Union is not at peace with itself."
Lindner speaks of a paradoxical situation: The SPD is strong because it shows how it really isn't.
And the Union is weak because it shows "how it really is".
Above all, Lindner defends himself on this day against demands from the Union to exclude a traffic light coalition with the Greens and the SPD.
That comes from a union that has "regularly and opportunistically aligned its rules to the left and the Greens for years," he says.
He finally received minutes of applause when he appealed to the self-confidence of the FDP and pointed out that his party renounced offices and careers in 2017 - when Lindner abandoned the Jamaica soundings: "We do not take any instructions from this Union."
Lindner is noticeably sparing only one person from the Union: the candidate for chancellor.
"We work fairly and in partnership with Armin Laschet in North Rhine-Westphalia."
In addition, Laschet stands out from those who promise higher taxes.
In view of the weakness of the Union, Lindner is repeating the message he has known for weeks: It is not decisive who will end up in first place on election evening.
From this statement speaks the hope of a Jamaican alliance under Laschet, which he has been relying on unchanged for months.
But the FDP has not yet sent a signal to the supporters of the Union as clearly as it did from Berlin.
Secretary General Wissing takes on this role on Sunday: He expressly addresses the "disappointed" voters of the Union and appeals to them to vote next Sunday and not to leave the "political center".
»The FDP offers you clarity, stability and reliability.
We are where others fail to be a market economy. «The liberals guaranteed a market economy, freedom and a stable welfare state that would not forget anyone.
After the election, the FDP could become the “decisive force” that would “shape the future government,” says Wissing.
It's a big promise.
Now the party just has to hold it.
