SBlack humor is when a party is terminally ill and its leader jokes. A few days ago, the Minister of Finance spoke about the forces of inertia in Germany and the trade tax. In this context, Christian Lindner joked that the opportunity missed by his predecessor will not come back in the first ten years of his tenure.
That got the laughs on his side. A weekend later, the FDP was kicked out of another state parliament – after the past year was a terrible one for the liberals.
Economic issues were once one of their core competencies. Now growth is meager, inflation is high, the energy supply is precarious, the infrastructure is ailing and the German armed forces are underfunded. In such times, Lindner’s party should benefit. He himself argues for generous tax relief so that incomes that fall in real terms as a result of currency devaluation are not overburdened. He promotes budgetary discipline so as not to fuel currency devaluation. He warns against an excessive industrial policy in the service of climate protection.
His party ensured that restrictions on freedom imposed during the pandemic were quickly lifted. In addition, during the energy crisis, she managed to ensure that nuclear power plants run longer, even if only for a few months. Nothing ignites.
Of course, Berlin is not the federal government. This choice shaped the feeling that this is a city that always has big plans and never lags behind. The keywords are well known: airport, citizen registration offices, New Year’s Eve riots. Only the CDU benefited. In the federal government it will be even more difficult for the FDP. Today it is hard to imagine that she will be able to successfully end the legislative period alongside the SPD and the Greens. Ending the coalition prematurely at the turning point would also not go down well.
What can help? Maybe the Federal Constitutional Court. If the solos were to be overturned, the FDP would have achieved something with their lawsuit. Ultimately, it is dependent on such outside help. For the FDP, the traffic light is like quicksand: the more it fidgets, the lower it sinks.