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The German liberals, the junior partner of the government coalition that plays against to survive

2023-04-24T10:48:19.909Z


The FDP strains the tripartite headed by Scholz by trying to set its own profile on key issues such as combustion engines or nuclear


There are days when the current news in Berlin reaches an extra degree of confusion.

Listening to the different parties, it is not uncommon to wonder if the toughest opposition to the chancellor, the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, is exercised by the Christian Democrats of the CDU or the liberals of the FDP.

In both cases, it is about conservative forces that criticize the policies of a social democrat, but the circumstance occurs that the liberals are part of the tripartite government coalition, together with the Greens.

What at first seemed like a healthy counterbalance has derived over the months —and with the meager results of the Liberals in successive regional elections— into an internal opposition that is constantly on display in public.

The tension is incessant, and affects key issues for the future of Germany,

Among the most recent clashes, the last-minute defense of the combustion engines in Brussels and the attempt to avoid the nuclear blackout, in which they continue to insist despite the fact that the last three reactors were disconnected from the network on the 15th, stand out. stance on reform of the EU's fiscal rules and trouble agreeing on the next German budget add fuel to the fire.

The FDP, which defines itself as a party that defends innovation and “freedom”, known for siding with companies, obtained a good result (11.5%) in the last federal elections, held in September 2021. But their aura has suffered since in December of that year they entered as the smallest partner in a tripartite led by Scholz.

Governing in coalition with two center-left parties forced its leader, Christian Lindner, to abandon the strict fiscal policies he had championed during the campaign.

Since then, he has had nothing but displeasure at the polls.

He has lost support in the five regional elections held.

In three of them, in the Saarland, Lower Saxony and the electoral repetition in Berlin, the liberals have directly been left out of the regional parliaments by not exceeding the barrier of 5% of the votes.

In the other two, Schleswig-Holstein (6.4%) and North Rhine-Westphalia (5.9%) their results have been very disappointing.

Faced with this panorama, Lindner has proposed to mark his own profile and disassociate himself from his partners, whom he accuses of wastefulness while vehemently defending the famous

schuldenbremse

, literally a brake on debt, enshrined in the Constitution.

Conflicts over finance and taxation surface daily, especially now that the next federal budget is being negotiated.

The FDP is committed to very limited public borrowing and categorically rules out raising taxes, while the SPD and the Greens are in favor, especially if the taxes affect the rich.

In recent weeks, the conflict has escalated in view of the correspondence between the Minister of Economy and Climate, Robert Habeck (greens), and the Minister of Finance, the liberal Lindner.

The content and, above all, the tone of these letters, too formal to be addressed between fellow Cabinet members, indicate that the disagreements are very deep.

For Lindner, a 44-year-old economist known for owning a Porsche with which he is often photographed, there was no better cause to champion than the internal combustion engine, a symbol of German inventiveness and prosperity.

The FDP, which is also opposed to imposing a speed limit on the country's highways, has seen defending the traditional car as a good way to win back its liberal voter base.

Eliminating CO₂-emitting cars would force the German car industry, which employs about a million people, to turn to batteries, an area of ​​innovation in which it lags far behind its Asian competitors.

Plant before the EU

It was the liberals who put the EU on the ropes last month by blocking a vote to ban cars with combustion engines from 2035, unless an exception was included for so-called synthetic fuels, or e-

fuels

.

But Chancellor Scholz supported them by allowing them to jeopardize a two-year negotiation that Berlin had already given its go-ahead and was only awaiting ratification.

Germany's reputation in Brussels has been badly damaged by this episode, a textbook example of the irresistible temptation of many politicians to score points at home by standing up to the EU or pretending to do so.

This chapter demonstrates, according to the Greens, that Scholz tends to give in to the demands of the smallest and most conflictive partner in the coalition.

They, who consented to a three and a half month extension of the operation of the last nuclear power plants, now see how the liberals return to the charge with atomic energy.

This same weekend, the congress that has re-elected Lindner as president of the FDP has voted in favor of a motion that asks to keep the three reactors in reserve.

In congress, the following dispute with Los Verdes has also been pointed out: another resolution demands changes to a bill already approved in the Council of Ministers to prohibit the installation of new gas and diesel boilers from 2024.

The liberals downplay the confrontation within the government and argue that it is nothing more than a sign of the new political times.

"The coalition has shown several times that it can argue hard about something and in the end come to good agreements," Johannes Vogel, the FDP's federal co-vice-chairman, said this week in a meeting with foreign correspondents.

“We have to adapt the political culture to the new party system.

Differences of opinion become clearly visible for the first time.

But not every debate is a dispute.

This comes from an old conception of politics in which everything is solved behind the scenes and facing the outside only a unified position is shown.

That does not fit in the new era, ”he stressed.

The strategy of going against the other two coalition partners is going long.

No one in the FDP is considering leaving the government and risking irrelevance.

The trauma of 2013, when the party did not get the minimum 5% vote to enter Parliament, is too recent.

And Lindner's leadership is unquestionable, as has been confirmed again at the congress this weekend in Berlin.

She obtained 88% of the votes and no other candidate shadows her.

Although timidly, the polls show a recent rebound in the evaluation of the Liberals.

The intention to vote has risen one point in April, up to 7%, compared to March, according to the poll by public television ARD.

And also Lindner as a political leader improves to 33% acceptance, although below the chancellor and the green ministers Habeck and Annalena Baerbock, responsible for Foreign Affairs.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-04-24

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