FDP leader Christian Lindner downplays the “D-Day” paper

Traffic light off scenario

Lindner calls “D-Day” document “intern papers”

Updated 12/10/2024Reading time: 2 min.

Christian Lindner (archive photo): He further downplays the significance of the “D-Day” paper. (Source: Christoph Hardt/imago-images-bilder)

Former Finance Minister Christian Lindner once again distances himself from the paper on the end of the traffic lights. In doing so, he trivializes the formulations – and makes oblique comparisons.

The FDP chairman Christian Lindner described his party’s controversial “D-Day” paper on the traffic light exit as a “trainee’s paper”. In view of the increasing dispute in the coalition, everyone involved at the time was preparing for the government to fail, said Lindner at an event organized by the FDP-affiliated Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Frankfurt. This also happened at the FDP party headquarters.

He wouldn’t have needed the paper himself. “It’s an intern’s paper,” said Lindner in an answer to a question about the template, which shows a detailed scenario for the FDP’s exit from the traffic lights. The exit is described and acted out using military terms such as “D-Day” and “open field battle”.

Lindner said he would not have used the term “D-Day” himself. According to the dictionary, it means “decision day” – separate from the Second World War. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) also wrote about an “open field battle” in her biography, said Lindner. This was not scandalized by anyone.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) once spoke of a “bazooka,” which is a rocket launcher. “I have the impression that a mistake by the FDP is being used here in order not to enforce ethical standards, but rather to pursue power politics in an ice-cold manner,” added Lindner.

One point of criticism of the exit paper, however, was that military vocabulary was used in reference to the former coalition partners – Scholz’s bazooka formulation, however, referred to financial aid during the corona pandemic.

The “D-Day” paper also sparked heated discussions within the party. Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai and Federal Managing Director Carsten Reymann resigned. This Tuesday, the FDP is presenting its campaign for the new Bundestag elections scheduled for February 23rd.