Brantner Appeals to Former FDP Voters as Liberalism Falters in German State Parliaments

Franziska Brantner, the head of the German Greens, urged former voters of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) to get involved after the FDP’s exit from the state parliaments in Stuttgart and Mainz. Speaking to the “Welt” in its Wednesday issue, she said that liberalism appeared to be in distress, noting that the new four‑party configurations-comprising the CDU, Greens, SPD and AfD-were emerging in Baden‑Würtemberg and Rhineland‑Palatinate and would shift the political landscape in Germany.

Brantner pointed out that everyone has a stake in safeguarding liberal democracy, a system in which the state is not all‑powerful and citizens are encouraged to take responsibility for their own lives. She added that the former Green leader Cem Ödemir has repeatedly called on ex‑FDP voters to rejoin the democratic fold, and that she, too, is extending the same invitation.