Candidacy for FDP chairmanship: “Why don’t you let Ms. Strack-Zimmermann go first, Mr. Kubicki?”
On the evening of the federal election, Wolfgang Kubicki announced that he would retire from politics. Now he has changed his mind. An interview about the future of the Liberals.
The FDP is no longer in the Bundestag, leading figures such as Christian Lindner and Marco Buschmann have retired: For the Liberals, election night ended in disaster. Wolfgang Kubicki , 72, also wanted to quit on Sunday evening, but has been wrangling since then about whether he should run for party chairman. In an interview, Kubicki talks about his decision, mistakes made by the Liberals and the future of his party.
Mr. Kubicki, on election night you announced your retirement from politics, and the morning after you considered running for party chairman. What prompted you to change your mind?
I have received a number of messages and calls from FDP members and supporters asking me to apply for the chairmanship. I am thinking about it. It will be important to send a signal of unity internally as well.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann has also expressed interest – why don’t you let her go first?
You could also ask Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann this question. I don't think it's a bad thing that she also wants to play a leading role in shaping the party's future. We need her, we need everyone who has the ability to assert themselves in the market of opinions with their messages. She has this gift.
Is the FDP now facing a power struggle for leadership, or is there a chance for a united new beginning?
No, there will be no power struggle.
Kubicki on the FDP: “We must return to our strengths”In your opinion, what are the most urgent reforms that the FDP needs now to regain the trust of the voters?
We need to analyse exactly where our 2021 voters went and why. According to the first surveys, we lost votes mainly to the CDU/CSU and the AfD. Anyone who thinks that this has nothing to do with our role in the traffic light coalition is quite wrong. We need to return to the strengths that made us great. This is above all the fight for civil rights, improving economic performance and strengthening the internal liberality of our society.
What lessons have you learned from the traffic light period for the future?
We should listen much less to those who supposedly give us good advice. If we are looking for applause, then it is not we who are deciding the future, but those who think that they can show us the way with applause.
Why do you think the FDP failed to enter the Bundestag? How could it achieve such a result?
There is certainly not just one reason. I have already mentioned the voter outflow to the CDU/CSU and AfD . We were no longer able to credibly counteract this development after the traffic light coalition ended. And finally, the fact that we presented an inconsistent picture on the influx restriction law during a sensitive phase of the election campaign certainly did us in. We have not been able to recover from that so quickly in the last few days. You can see that from the fact that the postal vote results have dragged us down. The upswing that we were able to generate with the campaign at the end of the election campaign unfortunately came too late.
Berliner-zeitung
