Liberal FDP mulls leaving German government after crushing election defeat

by Nick Alipour

Germany’s liberal FDP party is ready to quit the coalition government if it fails to agree to significant policy improvements, FDP leader and Finance Minister Christian Lindner suggested on Monday after a string of disastrous regional elections for his party.

The FDP failed to win a single seat in this month’s elections in the three eastern German states of Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony.

Sunday’s election in Brandenburg was another low point, with just 0.8% of voters choosing the Liberals. Party officials expressed frustration at the impact of the unpopular government on their results. FDP is a junior partner in the coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD/S&D).

“One thing is clear: courage is now required from everyone,” Lindner told journalists in Berlin on Monday.

“Either the courage to work in a controversial coalition if good things can be achieved for the country. But (…) courage is also when you reach the limits of what is possible and don’t meet the expectations and requirements of the country. Then courage is to ignite a new dynamic,” he added.

Lindner added that the FDP’s decision to leave the coalition would depend on the government’s ability to make ambitious decisions on migration, growth, and financial stability by 21 December, referring to what he called the “autumn of decisions.”

The coalition has long been criticised for its lack of cohesion. Disagreements over public finances have repeatedly led to public battles and minimal compromises, with the FDP favouring a fiscally hawkish approach, while the Greens and the SPD have opposed substantial cuts and called for more investment.

‘How low will the FDP fall?’
Lindner’s comments came after one of the party’s deputy leaders, Wolfgang Kubicki, questioned the coalition’s survival on election night.

“[Getting] around 1% three times in a row means that the FDP has been marginalised,” he told Welt.

“This means that people are done with the ‘traffic-light’ coalition,” he added, referring to the dismal performance of the other junior partner in the three-way coalition, the Greens.

“Either we succeed in finding a sensible common denominator here in the next 14 days, three weeks, or it no longer makes sense for the Free Democrats to continue participating in this coalition,” warned Kubicki, adding that he did not believe the coalition would survive until Christmas.

The FDP’s electoral performance was also ridiculed by its opponents.

“The FDP has been quartered. The FDP is now at 0.8% – that is less than half the share of the ‘Animal Rights Party’ [a fringe party],” opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU/EPP) said in Berlin on Monday. “How low will the FDP fall?” Merz added.

*first published in EURACTIV.com