Enlarge image
FDP leader Christian Lindner at the special party conference on December 5, 2021 in Berlin: Around 92 percent for the coalition agreement
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
The FDP has embarked on a long journey.
When Christian Lindner stepped before the Baden-Württemberg state representation in Berlin four years ago to announce the end of the talks with the Union and the Greens, he said a sentence that went down in German history: »It is better not to govern than wrong to rule «.
Four years later, in December 2021, the FDP becomes part of a government with the SPD and the Greens.
And again there is a sentence from Lindner, this time on the day when the FDP special party congress approves the coalition agreement. The refusal from autumn 2017 still plays a role, Lindner himself reminds of it on this day. But his former no to Jamaica only serves as a rhetorical foil: "It is better to dare to enter into this coalition than to forego development opportunities."
The FDP leader has achieved a lot for his party, four ministries, no tax increases, he has secured the central finance ministry for himself.
And yet there is no lightness over this project, the future traffic light coalition begins its work at an extremely inopportune time, the corona pandemic is sweeping through the country with a fourth wave.
The special party congress, for which Lindner and the governing bodies met in a hall in Berlin-Kreuzberg, must again be held largely digitally this time.
A kind of defiant encourager hangs across the seats on which the leadership has sat: "Let's start."
Hardly any delegate criticizes the contract
In the end, it will turn out exactly as Lindner and the FDP leadership had hoped: With more than 92 percent, the digitally connected 580 delegates agree to the coalition agreement. Only a good 6 percent are against it, and a few abstain. Hardly any delegate criticized the treaty, one criticized the withdrawal from nuclear power, another the lack of representation of FDP women in a future cabinet. But there is no real, broad criticism. The FDP seems satisfied with Lindner - the journey can go on.
There are many things to explain to the FDP leader on this gloomy December day in Berlin.
Above all, his course correction in the pandemic.
A few months ago, Lindner had spoken out against a general compulsory vaccination, most recently he was open to it.
When he talks about it, he initially stands behind the protective lectern, only later, as is so often the case at party conventions, will he walk freely through the room like a moderator.
The two Lindners
There are two Lindners that can be observed on this day.
The one who is already assuming the role of a future minister in matters of pandemic, the other who is campaigning for the coalition agreement as party leader.
And yet both roles will belong together in the future.
There is "no U-turn of the FDP in the pandemic policy," claims Lindner and devotes himself to this topic in detail, refers to the successes that his party has achieved in the revision of the Infection Protection Act, in order to then come to the core question - the debate about a future one general vaccination, a controversial issue in his party. You should face it "openly" with great respect for different considerations, after all you want to take responsibility for this country. But freedom, he emphasizes, loses value if it cannot be lived. "That is why a democracy is not about freedom or health protection, but about the right balance," says Lindner. These are definitely new tones.
Such explanations serve him as a starting point to justify why the FDP, as a future government partner in the crisis, has become more flexible than some had previously suspected. "Various arguments" and the low vaccination rate "made me think", says Lindner. The debate, he admits, is "sensitive to our society because it can lead to divisions" and it is "a matter of a highly personal ethical consideration."
Finally, he praised the approach that the First Parliamentary Managing Director of the FDP parliamentary group, Marco Buschmann, and future justice minister proposed for a vote in the Bundestag - without parliamentary group discipline, making the decision to vaccinate a decision of conscience.
Lindner hopes that this is a “wise proposal”; an open debate in parliament can “contribute to reconciliation”.
There is also some self-criticism: "The picture that the state community of responsibility made up of the federal and state governments, the federal government and the Bundestag as a whole has been unsatisfactory over the past few weeks," he says, which is why he recommends that "we all repeat it." to renounce."
Aside from the pandemic and its challenges, Lindner also has to explain other things on this day.
For a long time he had bet on the victory of the Union candidate Armin Laschet, with whom the CDU politician also linked his party with the hope of a Jamaican coalition. But now things have turned out differently and Lindner has to take his party with him to the new fork in the road. When it comes to the coalition agreement, he leaves the podium and, accompanied by a TV camera, walks around the demarcated hall in which the FDP leadership sits. With Jamaica, says Lindner, there would have been “no more liberal politics than is possible with this traffic light constellation”. Just as you said no in 2017 because there was too little liberal content, you can now say yes because it contains a lot of liberal content. It is evidently the new liberal narrative that should lead into the four-year reign.
The FDP, that has been Lindner's message for months and this time in the hall in Berlin, is an “independent party”, “not part of a camp”, neither with the CDU and CSU nor with the SPD and the Greens. Lindner also wants to emphasize this in the future state elections, as he emphasizes, in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the FDP governs with the CDU, and in Schleswig-Holstein, where the FDP stands alongside the CDU and the Greens in a Jamaican coalition.
For Lindner and his FDP, participating in a traffic light coalition is not without risk. The Free Democrats remember the black-and-yellow coalition from 2009 to 2013 too well, which for the FDP also ended with a traumatic expulsion from the Bundestag because it could not keep its promises of tax cuts at the time. All of this resonates when Lindner asks the delegates for "humility", for "patience" and even for "tolerance" when it comes to government. One shouldn't put "too much" on promises, but rather allow oneself to be "surprised" by "what has become possible," he says.
To a certain extent a new Lindner is presented there.
Someone who is preparing for his new role, who is talking about not being finance minister for a traffic light, but one for the Federal Republic of Germany.
And who talks about the fact that in the opposition you sometimes had to talk sharply in order to attract attention.
In the government, says Lindner with an ironic undertone, there will be no “lack of attention”, but the “sharpness” should be left to the opposition and formulated “more invitingly” even in the government.
On this second Advent there is also a sentence that seems like a commission to himself and his party: "We will shape government action, but let's allow it to shape us too."