Wolfgang Kubicki, the deputy chairman of the FDP, stated in an interview with “Welt am Sonntag” that his goal for a possible run for the party chairmanship is to restore the party’s electoral standing to above ten percent. While he noted that polls are currently showing a slight increase for the party, he cautioned that this is “not yet a Kubicki effect”. According to him, the true measure of success, the “Kubicki effect” is hitting six percent, which would surpass the minimum threshold. However, his ambitions go beyond that, recalling that the FDP achieved 10.7 percent in the 2017 Bundestag elections and 11.4 percent in 2021. He asserted that any expectation lower than this would be unrealistic for someone with his background as a combat sport athlete.
Kubicki is running for a one-year provisional chairmanship at the party convention at the end of May. He expressed confidence that by the end of that year, it will be clear if efforts have succeeded in rescuing the FDP from irrelevance. He added that if the party remains at only two percent in polls next May, even he would not be able to help.
He clarified that he does not see himself as the permanent future of the FDP, but rather as someone who wants to ensure the party has one. Regarding his current rival for the party chair, Henning Höne, Kubicki believes Höne lacks sufficient public recognition to successfully get the FDP back on track. He stated, “If I believed that my opponent Henning Höne was just as quick and able as me to make the FDP relevant at the federal level, I would say: Do it. But his level of recognition is not yet adequate. That also takes time”.
Should he win the election, Kubicki intends to suggest that Höne serve as his deputy. In analyzing the party’s difficulties, he pointed out that the primary issue is that the public has not noticed the party for over a year. Consequently, he stressed that visibility is the essential starting point for reaching voters.
Furthermore, Kubicki plans to pursue new talent from outside the party. He confirmed that he is already in talks with several external figures but could not offer further details. He concluded by saying that, like any political party, the FDP does not suffer from having too much competence.
Concerning the Alternative for Germany (AfD), he indicated a desire to engage in discussions with them, but emphatically not to cooperate. The Schleswig-Holstein representative stressed that he supports a firm political delineation from the AfD, but not an outright exclusion. He argued that attempting to diminish the AfD by labeling it as evil or right-wing extremist, and advising people to ignore its arguments, would be counterproductive. He maintained that he has nothing to hide from the AfD, that he is not easily discouraged by them, and that he is prepared to address their substantive points. He dismissed some of their key positions-such as withdrawal from the EU, scrapping the Euro, or the withdrawal of US troops-as simply irrational, making them incapable of forming a coalition.