Christian Lindner, the former chairman of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), has confirmed to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” that he plans to attend the FDP’s federal party conference in Berlin at the end of May as a guest.
Regarding the internal struggle over the party’s future direction, Lindner stated that he supports a collaboration between candidates Henning Höne and Wolfgang Kubicki, asserting that “both are needed”. When asked who could lead the party better out of the crisis, the former Federal Minister of Finance added that issues of direction and power could not be left unresolved. He emphasized that any success requires a clear offering and public interest in it.
Lindner attributed the party’s current crisis to its prolonged insistence on remaining within the “traffic light” coalition after the 2023 ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court regarding the budget. The ex-minister suggested that the mistake was remaining in the coalition for too long after the court’s verdict. In his view, this situation led to conflict and stagnation, even though the basis for the alliance had dissolved. However, he concluded that the political space for a liberal force remains unchanged.