Christian Lindner warns Friedrich Merz against black and green

FDP leader Christian Lindner does not believe in a possible coalition between the Union and the Greens after the new elections in February. “If you look at the programs, it’s like licorice and spinach. Together it’s a matter of taste,” he said at the trade congress in Berlin.

According to the former Federal Finance Minister, coalitions such as black-green or black-red would only be a “traffic light”. This would extend the policy of previous years. “For over a decade, the parties that sit to the left of the center in the Bundestag have had a great influence on the direction of our country. I believe we have to return to the center so that we can move forward.”

Lindner spoke out in favor of a different mentality of working in Germany. In terms of vacation entitlement, public holidays and sick leave, less work is done in this country than in almost any other developed industrial nation. He cited citizens’ money as a negative example. “As a society, we stand in solidarity with people who suffer a blow of fate and are in need.” However, this comes with the expectation that this will only take as long as necessary.

According to Lindner, this is often not the case for citizens’ benefit recipients. “There are quite a few who have made a good living in an arrangement of citizens’ money and moonlighting.” Many people were therefore surprised that the welfare state did not reward performance but tolerated inaction. Work is social participation and the feeling of being needed. “Work can be fun. That’s what I’m learning,” said Lindner, alluding to the traffic light outage.

The coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP collapsed last week. After a bitter dispute over economic policy and the debt brake, Lindner was dismissed as finance minister by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).