2024-07-24 20:12:12
The FDP politician actually wanted to quit politics after the next federal election. But now Wolfgang Kubicki has changed his mind.
Vice President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) has withdrawn his announced departure from politics. “I have decided to run again in the upcoming federal election,” the 72-year-old told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ). “In opinion polls, the FDP is at around five percent. Christian Lindner and I have the common goal of reaching double figures by the federal election,” he said, referring to the party leader.
At the beginning of 2022, Kubicki announced his retirement as a professional politician. “This is definitely my last legislative period,” he told the magazine “Focus” at the time. “In this respect, the fight for civil liberties after Corona will be my last,” he said during the Covid pandemic.
He now justifies his reversal of the role with the political changes since then: “I didn’t know then that we were in a pre-war phase and that the Russians would attack Ukraine,” Kubicki told the “NOZ”. “I also didn’t know that the constellation in this traffic light government would be so problematic that it would also make the FDP’s situation so difficult in terms of voter approval.”
Kubicki has been FDP vice-chairman since 2013 and vice-president of the Bundestag since 2017. In recent months, he has repeatedly attracted attention by criticizing his partners in the federal government, the SPD and the Greens, and questioning the continued existence of the traffic light coalition.
He does not consider his age to be an obstacle to running again. CDU leader Friedrich Merz is 68 years old “and would like to become Chancellor,” said Kubicki – “so I can probably run again at 72.”
However, he definitely rules out a ministerial post after the federal election: “That’s it. I don’t want to ruin my life by letting others decide for me. I also don’t want to have people accompanying me all the time, that would annoy me.”
The Liberals have to fight to remain in the Bundestag, for which they need five percent of the vote. According to current polls, the FDP is currently at four to six percent.