A difficult challenge to take on for a party whose image remains weighed down by its intransigence and the in-flight explosion of Olaf Scholz’s tricolor coalition, in November 2024. Since then, the FDP has been crushed, ousted from the Bundestag and certain regional parliaments, to the point that the new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, in quest for votes from liberal voters to counter the rise of the far-right, described the FDP as “unimportant”. To which the “big mouth” Wolfgang Kubicki responded by calling the chancellor an “asshole”. All in finesse.
Germany: the liberal FDP party between government participation and desire to stand out
To revive his party, Wolfgang Kubicki – who has not sat in the Bundestag for a year – promises to put the individual back at the center of the game, to reduce the role of the state, to fight against bureaucracy, to simplify the tax system and to return to budgetary rigor. In the great liberal tradition.
But his personality could well work against him. Because the man is controversial and divides even within his party, as reflected in the small 59% obtained on Saturday during the congress.
During the pandemic, Wolfgang Kubicki opposed compulsory vaccination and insulted the health authorities, as did the far right. At the time of the war in Ukraine, he advocated a reopening of the Russian Nord Stream II pipeline.
Germany: liberals vote to remain in the government coalition
And this week, this trained jurist considered it “obvious” to put an end to the sanitary cordon against the far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), which leads the race in all opinion polls. A position immediately rejected by the new vice-president of the party, but which has already succeeded in one thing: making people talk about the FDP. This hadn’t happened in a year.
