Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Free Democrats (Germany)

  • Dutch, German Liberals Split on Climate, Sustainability

    Christian Lindner
    German finance minister and Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner boards a government plane to Washington DC, April 22, 2022 (Bundesfinanzministerium)

    Germany’s Free Democrats are turning their backs on climate and sustainability. Across the border in the Netherlands, by contrast, a liberal-led government has accelerated its program to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

    The Dutch coalition — which includes two Christian democratic and a left-liberal party in addition to the Free Democrats’ ally VVD — is raising taxes on coal use and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in order to pay for subsidies on green hydrogen, solar panels and secondhand electric cars. It is also banning most gas-powered boilers in favor of electric heat pumps by 2027.

    The German liberals resist a similar ban. They nearly torpedoed an EU phaseout of diesel and petrol cars. (more…)

  • German Liberals Stab Dutch Liberal in the Back

    Jan Huitema
    Jan Huitema, a member of the European Parliament for the Dutch liberal party, answers questions from reporters in Brussels, October 28, 2022 (European Parliament/Philippe Buissin)

    German liberals have thrown a wrench in the EU’s plan to phase out diesel and petrol cars, arguing a 2035 deadline is too strict.

    “It is contradictory when the EU Commission calls for high climate protection targets on the one hand, but on the other hand makes it more difficult to achieve these targets through overambitious regulation,” transport minister Volker Wissing told the Bundestag on Friday.

    A vote of EU transport ministers planned for Tuesday has been postponed. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is attending a German cabinet meeting on Sunday to discuss their about-face.

    Wissing’s change of heart is a stab in the back of fellow liberal Jan Huitema, who steered the car legislation through the European Parliament. Wissing’s FDP and Huitema’s VVD are the fourth- and fifth-largest parties in the Renew group. (more…)

  • What’s in Germany’s “Traffic Light” Coalition Agreement

    Olaf Scholz
    German finance minister Olaf Scholz attends a debate in parliament in Berlin, July 8, 2018 (Bundestag/Inga Kjer)

    Germany’s Social Democrats, Greens and liberal Free Democrats are ready to govern. Two months after the federal election almost to the day, they unveiled a 177-page coalition agreement that lays out their program for the next four years.

    Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Olaf Scholz, who would succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor, described the deal as the “biggest industrial modernization of Germany in more than 100 years.” It calls for major investments in decarbonization and digitalization.

    Free Democratic Party (FDP) leader Christian Lindner would succeed Scholz at the Finance Ministry, despite his party being the smallest in the “traffic light” coalition (named after the parties’ colors).

    The Greens get climate and foreign policy, and the right to nominate Germany’s next EU commissioner. (Unless the conservative Ursula von der Leyen is reelected as commission president.)

    Here are the highlights. (more…)

  • Outlines of a Green-Liberal Pact for Germany

    Germany’s Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) are taking the lead in forming the next coalition government.

    The two parties won a combined 120 seats in the election on Sunday, more than either the Social Democrats (SPD), who placed first, or the Union of Christian Democrats, who came in second. They would still need one of the two bigger parties for a majority. The Greens would prefer to team up with the SPD. The liberal FDP would prefer a coalition with the Union.

    The best way to avoid gridlock is for the smaller parties to do a deal first and then see whether the SPD or Union could support it.

    Here’s what such a deal might look like. (more…)

  • Merkel’s Party Loses German Election, Left and Liberals Gain

    • Outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union lost the election on Sunday.
    • The center-left Social Democrats (SPD) became the largest party for the first time since 2005.
    • The Greens and liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) made gains.
    • Three parties will probably be needed to form the next German government. (more…)

  • Liberals Would Lend Urgency to Next German Government

    Christian Lindner
    German Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner makes a speech in parliament in Berlin (Kevin Schneider)

    With Germany’s Christian Democrats and Social Democrats neck and neck in the polls, and the Greens not far behind, no single party or combination of two parties is projected to win a majority in the election on Sunday. Germans should vote for the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and make them kingmakers in the next Bundestag.

    The liberals balked at a pact with the Christian Democrats and Greens in 2017, fearing that concessions to the center and left would prevent them from prying away voters from the far-right Alternative for Germany. They have wisely abandoned that strategy. Center-right parties across Europe have tried and failed to win back voters from the nationalist right by mimicking their policies and rhetoric. It’s unconvincing. The parties that did find their way back, like the Christian Social Union of Bavaria, did so by being true by their convictions.

    The Free Democrats, in their manifesto as well as their campaign, have been outspokenly liberal, calling for equal adoption rights for gay couples, protecting personal data, reducing publicly-funded media to news and documentaries, and restricting unemployment benefits. These aren’t priorities for other parties, which is why the FDP needs to get back into power. (more…)

  • What’s at Stake in the German Election

    German parliament Berlin
    Reichstag in Berlin, Germany (Unsplash/Fionn Große)

    Germans elect a new Bundestag on September 26. Outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel is not seeking reelection after serving four terms. Her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is polling in first place, but the left-wing Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens are not far behind.

    Three more parties (counting the union of Merkel’s CDU and Bavaria’s Christian Social Union as one) are expected to win seats: the center-right Free Democrats (FDP), the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the far-left Die Linke.

    The outgoing “grand coalition” of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats may not defend its majority. More importantly, neither wants to form another two-party government after sharing power for twelve of the last sixteen years.

    All other parties rule out pacts with the AfD. The Greens, who are projected to be the biggest winners of the election, would be needed in all possible coalitions:

    • Union + Greens + FDP: Failed in 2017, when the liberals balked. Could be a modernizing, pro-EU government that seeks technological solutions to the climate crisis.
    • Union + SPD + Greens: Less attractive to the Christian Democrats on labor and tax policy, but the Union and SPD see eye to eye on protecting industries and jobs.
    • SPD + Greens + FDP: Makes less sense for the FDP, who would face opposition from the center- and far right.
    • SPD + Greens + Linke: Politically risky for SPD and Greens, who want to appear moderate, and difficult policy-wise on defense and foreign relations.

    Here’s where the four mainstream parties stand on ten of the issues at stake in this election. (more…)

  • Outrage over Right-Wing Alliance in Thuringia Is Overblown

    Politicians in Berlin are up in arms about an alliance between the mainstream right and far-right Alternative for Germany in the central state of Thuringia.

    Lars Klingbeil, secretary general of the ruling Social Democrats, spoke of a “low point in Germany’s postwar history.”

    Chancellor Angela Merkel called the election of a liberal state premier with far-right support “unforgivable”.

    Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the head of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and presumptive successor, said it was a “bad day for Thuringia and a bad day for Germany.”

    Hitler comparisons are rife, coming even from party leaders in Brussels.

    This is all a little over the top. (more…)

  • German Coalition Talks Collapse as Free Democrats Walk Out

    Angela Merkel
    German chancellor Angela Merkel answers questions from reporters in Berlin, November 9, 2016 (Bundesregierung)

    Germany’s liberal Free Democrats have left talks to form a coalition government with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the Greens, citing an absence of trust.

    Christian Lindner, the liberal party leader, tweeted, “It is better not to govern than to govern in the wrong way.” (more…)

  • German Free Democrats, Greens Drop Red Lines

    Germany’s Free Democrats and Greens have each dropped demands in order to make progress in coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

    Merkel has set a ten-day deadline to finish preliminary discussions and start negotiations to form a government.

    • The Free Democrats have accepted they will not be able to cut income taxes as much as they wanted.
    • The Greens no longer insist on fixed dates to shut coal-fired power stations and ban cars with internal combustion engines. (more…)

  • European Fears of “Jamaica” Coalition Are Overblown

    David Cameron Angela Merkel
    British prime minister David Cameron walks with German chancellor Angela Merkel outside his Chequers country residence in Buckinghamshire, England, October 9, 2015 (Bundesregierung/Guido Bergmann)

    A three-party “Jamaica” coalition in Germany may not be so bad for Europe as observers fear, writes Guntram Wolff of the Bruegel think tank in the Financial Times.

    He recognizes that the liberal Free Democrats are more Euroskeptic than Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the Greens. They have opposed Greek debt relief, are wary of a common eurozone budget and argue for strict enforcement the bloc’s fiscal rules.

    But that also applies to Wolfgang Schäuble, the outgoing finance minister. His likely Free Democratic successor could hardly be more hawkish.

    A Jamaica coalition (named for the colors of the three parties, which match the Caribbean nation’s flag) would be open to some of the other EU reform proposals French president Emmanuel Macron made this week, from enhancing defense cooperation to creating a single European asylum policy. (more…)

  • “Jamaica” Coalition Looks Like Only Option in Germany

    Angela Merkel
    German chancellor Angela Merkel attends a meeting with other European conservative party leaders in Brussels, December 13, 2012 (EPP)

    A three-party coalition of Christian Democrats, Free Democrats and Greens looks like the only possibility short of minority government in Germany.

    Such a combination, unprecedented at the federal level, is nicknamed “Jamaica” because the parties’ colors are black, yellow and green. (more…)

  • Liberal Free Democrats Would Keep Merkel Sharp

    Christian Lindner
    German Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner makes a speech in parliament in Berlin (Kevin Schneider)

    There is little doubt Angela Merkel will win reelection in Germany on Sunday. Her Christian Democrats are projected to win up to 40 percent support against 25 percent for the second party, the Social Democrats.

    The two could continue to share power in a “grand coalition”, but we’re hoping the liberal Free Democrats will win enough seats to help form a center-right government instead.

    Polls suggest that the two parties might just fall short of a majority. Conservative and liberal voters who want to keep the left out of power ought to give the Free Democrats their support. (more…)

  • Center-Right Voters Eager to Govern in Germany, Center-Left Unsure

    Center-right voters in Germany hope Angela Merkel’s next coalition government will unite her Christian Democrats and the liberal Free Democrats. But if the Greens are needed for a majority, they could live with that, the latest Deutschlandtrend poll shows.

    Green party voters are less interested in a three-party coalition but surprisingly supportive of a deal with the right: 68 percent would join a Merkel-led administration.

    The Christian Democrats are almost certain to remain the largest party, but it’s unclear from the polls if the Free Democrats will win enough seats to form a two-party government.

    The Social Democrats, the second largest party, aren’t desperate for another “grand coalition”. Half their voters would prefer to go into opposition rather than share power with Merkel for another four years. (more…)

  • Comparing German Party Platforms Reveals Two Divides

    David Cameron Angela Merkel
    British prime minister David Cameron and German chancellor Angela Merkel answer questions from reporters in Berlin, May 29, 2015 (10 Downing Street/Arron Hoare)

    Comparing the platforms of the six parties competing in the German election reveals two divides:

    1. The first is between the traditional left and right on spending and taxes. The Social Democrats, Greens and far-left Die Linke want higher taxes on the wealthy to fund public investment. The Christian Democrats, liberal Free Democrats and nativist Alternative argue for tax cuts.
    2. The second divide is between the four mainstream parties and the extremes on defense and foreign policy. The Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats all support closer European integration and NATO. The Alternative wants out of the euro. Die Linke would swap NATO for a security pact with Russia.

    Here is a closer look at where the parties stand on defense, Europe, immigration, spending and taxes. (more…)