After their defeat in the elections, the liberals demand more profile for their partners in the SPD and Los Verdes
The outcome of this Sunday’s elections in Lower Saxony complicates and hinders the work of the German governing coalition formed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the Liberal Party (FDP). While the former were declared clear winners of the regional elections and the latter more than doubled their previous result, the third were kept outside the Hanover regional parliament by not exceeding the 5% threshold. A setback that has sounded the alarm in the smallest of the three formations of the Tripartite in Berlin. “The voice of the FDP must be heard more clearly in this coalition,” warned Liberal Secretary-General Bijan Dijr-Sarai, who did not hesitate to state that “we must prevent the left-wing projects in this coalition being carried out” and by demanding that his party get a higher profile in government.
This not only points to controversy and harsh debates in the Tripartite on burning issues such as energy and financial policies, but also irritates social democrats and environmentalists, who feel they have already had too many considerations this year with the underage partner of the governmental alliance. Liberals president and federal treasury secretary Christian Lindner was more moderate than his secretary general on Monday when he spoke of state responsibility and implicitly rejected a coalition breakup. Lindner assured that “the strengthening of the FDP occurs when it conducts successful negotiations”. Liberal parliamentary leader in the Bundestag, Christian Dürr, also stressed that his formation is taking on its “responsibility” in Germany and, although they are going through difficult times, “the priority is to think about the country”.
The truth is that the Liberals have had a disastrous year after joining the Scholz-led Tripartite. They suffered significant losses in the four regional elections of 2022. In the Saarland, as in Lower Saxony, they were expelled from the regional chamber, in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia they managed to keep their seats, but lost their participation in both governments. So they are now wondering if they did the right thing last fall when they decided to join the alliance with Social Democrats and Greens in Berlin. Especially if these last two formations are the ones that get the most revenue from that pact so far.
This means that the SPD and environmentalists will now have a more sensitive, nervous and uncomfortable government partner than they have hitherto been the case. “It is disturbing that the FDP has failed” in Lower Saxony, Greens chairman Omnid Nouripour admitted the same election night, after acknowledging that working with the liberals is not easy and will be even more complicated from now on. They’ve had enough of the debate over the already-excluded gas tariff, the demand to extend the life of nuclear power plants that liberals have annoyed environmentalists in recent weeks, the effort to curb debt despite the urgent need to cut government spending. to face the crisis, pushing for the relaxation of preventive measures in the face of a possible new wave of coronavirus or the categorical rejection of a speed limit on German highways. All this has severely tested the patience of Social Democrats and Greens.
Meanwhile, the SPD and environmentalists have already announced their intention to negotiate a joint executive branch in Lower Saxony without giving options for other alternatives. The Social Democrats had previously rejected the extension of the grand coalition to include the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), their hitherto minor partner in the region, if they could win a parliamentary majority with the support of the ecologists. For the conservatives, who have achieved the worst result in their history in the northern German state, the vote has been a disaster. “It was a setback, I would have preferred a different result,” said Friedrich Merz, chairman of the CDU, who fired his organization secretary Stefan Henewig this Monday over the failure of the campaign. The Social Democrats, in turn, applaud the breathing space and the success of their candidate Stephan Weil in Lower Saxony. Weil is the real architect of victory by gaining the confidence of the electorate after ten years of reign to add another legislature.
All these formations, in spite of everything, have a common interest. The resurgence of the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), which nearly doubled its previous results in Lower Saxony, is confusing the rest of the parties. After two years of losing percentages in the vast majority of elections in Germany, the xenophobic and anti-European formation has found its new star in the energy crisis to sow fear and attract the disaffected with their protest vote. Their leaders are elated and threaten a hot shower of demonstrations. “We’re back,” said Tino Chrupalla, chairman of the AfD, who criticized the “failed federal policy” in the energy crisis, demanded again that sanctions on Russia be lifted, Russian gas continue to be purchased and all nuclear power plants must be shut down. be turned on. . “We are on the brink of a third world war,” warned the far-right leader, in his usual line of spreading fear among the electorate.
Source: La Verdad
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