Christian Lindner has the urge to present himself as an upstanding liberal.
(Photo: IMAGO/Political Moments)
Brussels In Brussels, Christian Lindner is particularly noticeable these days as a blocker. First, the head of the FDP stopped the planned phasing out of combustion engines from 2035. The process still triggers gasps in the Commission and in the European Parliament, and there is no end in sight to the conflict.
The German finance minister is also slowing down the reform of the EU debt rules. He had a compromise that had already been agreed at the finance ministers’ meeting on Tuesday renegotiated at the last minute. He wanted to stipulate that the Commission should take into account the numerous concerns about relaxing the Stability Pact when preparing its draft law.
Where does the desire for the last-minute veto come from? One explanation is certainly Lindner’s urge to stage himself as an upright liberal who stands up for his principles. The regular voters like that, especially when it comes to emotionally charged issues such as cars or national debt.
But the EU Commission is not innocent of the constant showdowns. In both cases she tried to ignore the FDP. That was politically unwise, even negligent. Lindner did not feel that he was being taken seriously – and reacted accordingly sharply.
When the combustion engine was shut down, he was angry that EU climate commissioner Frans Timmermans dismissed the FDP’s demand for an exception for e-fuels in the German media. Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni now offered the reason for the uprising in the Stabilization Pact.
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The Italian declared last week that he intends to assess the national fiscal plans for 2024 in the light of the future, less strict debt rules. These have not even been decided yet. Gentiloni’s advance was not only legally questionable, but also a political mistake. Lindner’s anger is justified.
The Commission has itself to blame for the fact that the minister used the through ballots of the two Social Democrats. Instead of complaining about the recalcitrant liberals, perhaps they should simply not triumph too soon in the future.
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