Before the FDP’s Three Kings’ Meeting, former Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhart Baum criticizes the direction and leadership style of party chairman Christian Lindner. “Under Lindner, internal party discussions are marked by fear, and something detrimental would emerge from it” said the liberal in an interview with Zeit Online.
“The discourse is the elixir of life for democracy. Without a discourse, the party will die.” The FDP is meeting in Stuttgart on Monday for its traditional Three Kings’ Meeting. Baum, 92, is one of the most prominent liberals.
At Zeit Online, he also criticized Lindner for his positive statements about Elon Musk. “My friends and I are shocked by Lindner’s approaches to Elon Musk. A billionaire gets involved in Trump’s election campaign, making politics a personal business to enrich himself. That’s just crazy. As long as state expenses are cut and authorities are reformed – that’s not liberalism anymore, but a coarse, chain-saw ideology. And now Musk is even giving a campaign recommendation for Germany: FDP? No, AfD.”
Asked about the FDP’s leadership at the end of the grand coalition, Baum said that the chairman’s behavior had deeply disturbed him. “Lindner’s thinking is power-oriented, even within the party.” Baum praised Lindner for bringing the FDP back into the Bundestag, “but then he led her into isolation afterwards.”
The party had reduced itself too much to a single leader. “Where is the personal diversity? Where is the fighting woman?” Asked about the FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, he replied: “She is not visible in foreign policy.” A diversity of faces, connected to specific themes, was needed. “The narrowing to economic goals is a poverty of liberalism.