by Julia Dahm
The coalition’s liberal FDP party could block green measures like new power lines and double down on building more highways to raise its profile among voters following its disastrous results in Sunday’s Berlin regional elections.
The FDP took a severe hit in Sunday’s Berlin rerun election: With 4.6% of votes according to the preliminary result, the party did not even pass the 5% threshold and will not make it into the regional parliament.
This will likely prompt the party to double down on its positions and become increasingly uncompromising within the federal governing coalition.
“The time of appeasement is over,” party Vice-Chief Wolfgang Kubicki, as quoted by Spiegel, said after the preliminary results were made public. The party would not shy away from holding government projects hostage to push its positions through, he said.
If the Greens continue to block the construction of new highways, he said, the FDP would just veto any new power lines until the coalition partner backs down.
Germany’s governing coalition is currently split on whether new roads should be awarded the same level of priority as “greener” means of transport, such as new railroad tracks.
The FDP’s Berlin election defeat comes after a series of disastrous regional election results – after each of which the party leadership had vowed to “strengthen its profile” within the coalition.
However, party chief Lindner somewhat softened Kubicki’s stance on Monday. “Mad rushes and rumpus are not our style,” he stressed in a Tweet.
*first published in: Euractiv.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
