FDP before party conference: Many quarrel with the traffic light

In Norderstedt there is asparagus on the plates this evening. For many of the FDP members present, it is the first this year, and there is also wine spritzer and beer. Nevertheless, the mood at the meeting of local politicians is mixed: in a few weeks the local elections in Schleswig-Holstein are coming up, but the polls are manageable. Federal issues dominated, above all the tiresome thing with the heaters, many say on site. And government participation in the federal government is anything but a plus in the election campaign.

One says that those responsible for the social media accounts in the local branches in the country recently decided not to share any statements from FDP federal politicians during the election campaign. One tries to “hide” the statements. The feedback was too negative.

Since the FDP entered the government coalition with the SPD and the Greens in December 2021, it has missed the five percent hurdle in three state elections – in Saarland, in Lower Saxony and most recently in Berlin. In Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, the Liberals narrowly made it into parliament last year, but were kicked out of the state governments. Five defeats: Before the federal party conference, which starts this Friday, the mood in the party is very mixed. Also, since three more state elections are coming up this year. Three times the five percent hurdle will probably be the toughest opponent of the FDP.

In Hesse, the Liberals want nothing to do with minimal goals such as returning to the state parliament. Your top candidate Stefan Naas would like to lead his party to a government participation after the state elections on October 8th. The FDP must be so strong that the parties in the center cannot govern without it, he says. The FDP saw the last survey for Hesse, a good month old, at five percent. In nationwide polls, the party has now recovered at seven percent. For Naas, this is proof that things are looking up – and one will also benefit from this in the state elections. According to election researchers, the national trend, which is important anyway, is even more important for the FDP at the state level. Your supporters are strongly geared towards what is happening in Berlin.

Naas says: “As the FDP, we have wind under our wings.” The early days of the traffic light coalition are over, when the cabinet acted more as an opposition, Naas believes. “Today it is clear what the Liberals in government stand for.” From the point of view of the Hessian top candidate, this was shown most recently in the compromise on the faster expansion of motorways and preventing the ban on combustion engines. Both examples in which the FDP had to prevail against the Greens.

But from Naas’ point of view, there are important projects that could not be implemented with the Union, for example: the abolition of cold progression, acceleration of planning and the renewal of social policy. A commitment to traffic lights in distant Berlin.