Germany needs “a growth package,” said Lindner.
(Photo: dpa)
Stuttgart Christian Lindner has just started his speech when the FDP leader is interrupted by climate activists with a song. “We shall overcome” sounds from the box of the Stuttgart Opera House, banners are asking for a 9-euro ticket and a speed limit.
“You won’t get into the hit parade with that,” Lindner calls out to the demonstrators. There’s time, says the finance minister, as the protesters keep chanting, “but to be honest, I’d prefer you stuck together,” he counters. “If you stick here, you can’t hinder anyone else.”
It was the prelude to a speech in which Lindner neither attacked his own coalition partners nor the opposition Union, but caressed the party soul with a liberal declaration of war.
Despite all the difficulties of the traffic light coalition, a message of optimism should emanate from the traditional Epiphany meeting. Lindner: “Sticking was yesterday, tackling is now the order of the day.”
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The FDP chairman listed what he sees as common successes of the traffic lights: the relief packages worth billions, economic aid, support for Ukraine, citizen income with better additional earning opportunities. The Minister of Finance defended the federal government’s crisis management, including the high level of borrowing on a scale that “I was and is not comfortable with”.
>> Read about this: The loss of prosperity – What the crisis is costing Germany
All of that was necessary. But after the crisis management of 2022, the traffic light coalition now needs an economic policy restart in the new year – that was the central message in Lindner’s speech. A “break in economic and financial policy” is necessary.
During the speech by FDP leader Christian Lindner at the epiphany meeting of his party, climate activists disrupted the situation
(Photo: dpa)
Germany came through the crisis well, explains Lindner. But in order to be able to finance social balance and investments in climate protection in the future, economic growth must be ensured.
That was the message to the SPD and the Greens: Their heartfelt concerns can only be implemented if you support the FDP’s demands for a strong economy. “Preserving the economic substance of this company must continue to be the top priority,” said the finance minister.
The traffic light must now do this – also out of political self-interest. “If the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP wants to have a chance of re-election, then that will only succeed if we put the country back on the road to economic success,” said Lindner.
>> Read here: Time to invest – Germany needs a growth spurt
That was a challenge to the coalition partners – only disguised in a friendly, diplomatic way, emphasizing a common interest. But Lindner knows that the SPD and the Greens have very different ideas about how to get on the road to economic success.
Not everything is possible without major conflicts
It was up to FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai to make that clear in his speech beforehand. The liberals must ensure, said Djir-Sarai, that Germany is governed “not from the left, but from the center”.
Rule Germany “not from the left, but from the center”.
(Photo: dpa)
Germany needs “a growth package,” said Lindner. Some components that the FDP politician has in mind are possible in the traffic light without major conflicts: Easier immigration for workers or more spending on education and research. Anything else will lead to quarrels. At the Epiphany meeting, the Liberals make it clear that they support fracking in Germany, for example, which the Greens and SPD reject.
>> Read here: FDP politicians are demanding a turnaround from Christian Lindner
And there should also be conflicts on Lindner’s terrain, financial policy. “A country that wants to get back on the offensive in location competition does not increase the tax burden, it lowers the tax burden,” said Lindner.
He names projects in which he hopes to convince the Social Democrats and the Greens. These include better depreciation options for companies to set an incentive for investments. Or higher research funding.
“Compromises with Union not easier”
But when it comes to reducing the effective tax burden for companies, “there will remain a dissent,” said Lindner. Nevertheless, the Liberals would not stop making proposals on this. “The FDP has not stopped thinking about tax policy”. And since such a tax cut strengthens the economy and thus the country, it is actually “in the self-interest of the SPD and the Greens,” said Lindner. “They just don’t know yet.”
The FDP leader knows that there is dissatisfaction with the traffic light alliance in the party, especially after last year’s state elections were lost. In a coalition, compromises are necessary, which can also be criticized. But it wouldn’t be easier with the Union either, Lindner warned the party supporters. “It would just be different.”
The traffic light is without alternative for the Liberals until 2025. So from the point of view of the FDP leaders, you have to make the best of it. Or as the Baden-Württemberg FDP chairman and host Michael Theurer said in his opening speech: “Government is not for cowards.”
More: Fateful year for the Liberals – An insecure FDP wants to take courage