Wolfgang Kubicki publicly defended his bid for the chairmanship of the FDP against criticism from within the party. Speaking to the Tagesspiegel, and in response to comments made by FDP MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Kubicki stated, “A battle-tested veteran is better than a lame horse”. He announced his intention to revitalize the FDP.
The 74-year-old, who has been a member of the FDP for 56 years, told the newspaper that he cannot bear to watch the party fail. “I want to do everything to prevent that” he said. Kubicki acknowledged that his age means he does not represent the future of the FDP, adding, “I am not the future of the FDP, but I want my party to have a future at all”.
The former Bundestag Vice President explained that his nomination was pushed upon him by many people. He credits Christian Lindner with giving him the final impetus, telling the Tagesspiegel that the former FDP chairman had told him the party was at the end if Kubicki did not take over. Kubicki reportedly responded by joking, “I told him he was a funny little fellow. He deserves good money in the free market now and pushes the stroller through the park”.
Despite the remarks, Kubicki agrees with Lindner’s assessment: “Someone has to pull the wagon out of the mess right now”. His goal is to get the party above the five percent threshold. To achieve this, Kubicki has set a deadline: “We will have FDP executive board elections again in May 2027. If we haven’t succeeded by then, then it will be definitively over for me”.
According to a polling survey by the dts news agency conducted on Monday, several members support Kubicki’s candidacy. While Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann publicly backed him for Henning Höne, the head of the North Rhine-Westphalia government who also plans to run for party chair at the FDP federal party conference at the end of May, no other members of the FDP executive board initially expressed support to the dts inquiry.