After the state elections in Lower Saxony, the traffic light coalition in the federal government is threatened with open dispute. FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai announced on Sunday in the “Berliner Runde” of the ARD that consultations in the FDP committees would take place on further cooperation. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert said that the traffic light parties had to learn to settle their dispute behind the scenes and to appear closed to the outside world. The parliamentary director of the Greens in the federal government, Emily Büning, called for more constructive cooperation. Djir-Sarai’s statements are not very helpful.
The FDP general secretary spoke against the background of his party’s poor performance in the state elections in Lower Saxony, which will probably miss the re-entry into the state parliament in Hanover. This result must have consequences. In doing so, Djir-Sarai acknowledged a continuing uneasiness among the FDP supporters with the coalition in the federal government. “My party still has major problems with this coalition,” said Djir-Sarai. FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki also said that a large proportion of FDP voters were “stranged with the ‘traffic light’ in Berlin”. “We are in the traffic light coalition because of state political responsibility, not because the SPD and the Greens are so close to us in terms of content,” added FDP leader Christian Lindner. He also disliked the fact that the CDU in Lower Saxony “fought the FDP instead of left-wing politics”. That should make you think, tweeted Lindner.
Djir-Sarai announced that the FDP committees would discuss the situation in the coalition starting this Monday, after which “very specific” discussions would also have to take place within the traffic light coalition. Djir-Sarai said there were “quite a number of examples” of difficulties. The FDP General Secretary criticized that one or two coalition partners could not “constantly” distinguish themselves at the expense of the other coalition partner. He mentioned in particular the financial situation and the debate about the debt brake.
A coalition will not work if two partners keep coming up with new ideas for spending money, and the other partner has to see how this can be financed. From his point of view, that will no longer work, said Djir-Sarai. The FDP must prevent the SPD and Greens from implementing left-wing projects in particular.
In the “Berlin Round”, Djir-Sarai called on the coalition partners to now decide to extend the lifetime of the nuclear power plants. No country in Europe understands why Germany is refraining from extending the term. “The three available nuclear power plants must run until at least 2024,” said the FDP Secretary General. Should there be problems with the energy supply in winter, this would otherwise be associated with the face of Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens). Green woman Büning shook her head.
Greens Federal Chairman Omid Nouripour does not see the poor FDP result as a problem for the further cooperation of the traffic light government at federal level. “We have a relationship of trust within the coalition,” Nouripour told Phoenix television. However, he acknowledged problems in communication. “I admit, sometimes it’s louder on stage than backstage. It shouldn’t be like that and vice versa. Everyone should take a good look at it.”
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil told Phoenix that he does not expect any direct consequences for the federal government from the weak performance of the FDP in Lower Saxony. For the traffic light, however, there is still a clear signal from the last few weeks. “We have a lot to do, we have a variety of crises and we have to join forces in the federal government to deal with these crises.”
