FDP federal manager Reymann is also resigning from his position

After the announcement of a detailed plan to phase out traffic lights, the FDP is drawing personnel consequences. General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai and Federal Managing Director Carsten Reymann are resigning, as both confidants of party leader Christian Lindner announced in Berlin.

The 48-year-old Djir-Sarai said in a short statement at the Hans-Dietrich-Genscher-Haus: “I unknowingly provided incorrect information about an internal document. This was not my intention, as I myself had no knowledge of this paper,” said Djir Sarai. “I apologize for that.” The Secretary General is responsible for such a process – “therefore I take political responsibility to prevent damage to my credibility and that of the FDP.”

Both FDP politicians were reacting to the party’s so-called “D-Day” paper, which had been published the day before. It contains a detailed scenario for the FDP’s exit from the traffic light with the SPD and the Greens. Djir-Sarai had emphasized on November 18th, with a view to media reports at the time about the “D-Day” formulation: “That’s not true. This term was not used.” Apparently he had this contradiction in mind when he announced his resignation.

In a written statement from Reymann it was said that he had offered Lindner to resign from his position. Lindner accepted this offer. “I’m doing this because I want to enable the party’s personnel to be reorganized in the Hans Dietrich Genscher House.” The FDP is facing an important federal election that is a directional choice for Germany. “The FDP should go into this election campaign with full force and without stressful personnel debates.”

In the paper on the end of the coalition, for example, it is said that the “ideal time” for an “announced exit” from the traffic lights could be between November 4th and 10th in the middle of the 45th calendar week. On November 6th, the alliance, which had been in crisis for a long time, actually broke – when Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) dismissed Lindner as finance minister at a meeting of the coalition committee.

Immediately before Djir-Sarai’s statement, the leader of the Young Liberals, Franziska Brandmann, called for the FDP General Secretary to resign. “As general secretary, Bijan Djir-Sarai bears political responsibility for the content and direction of the party. In order to prevent further damage to the party, I have asked Bijan Djir-Sarai, as JuLi federal chairwoman, to resign from his position,” wrote Brandmann the short message service X.

She declared that the paper, which had become public the day before, was “unworthy of a liberal party.” Not only the public must get the impression that they have been deceived for weeks – but also their own party. “That also applies to me – I too was deceived. I know that the feeling that is spreading within me is shared by many members of the Free Democrats,” said Brandmann.

The paper was criticized not only because of its content, but also because of its choice of words. The term “D-Day,” which was historically coined by the Second World War, appears several times in the document – ​​as a synonym for the possible time to exit the traffic lights.

The English term “D-Day” can be translated as “Day X” – or can also mean “Day of Decision”. The formulation is particularly well known in connection with the Allied landing in Normandy to liberate Europe from National Socialism. “D-Day” marked the start of this on June 6, 1944. But it also stands for inhumane bloodshed, tens of thousands of dead and wounded.

Djir-Sarai has been Secretary General of the FDP since April 2022. He was born in Tehran in 1976 and came to Germany at a young age, where he graduated from high school and studied business administration. In 2009 he was elected to the Bundestag for the first time. He has been a member of parliament again since 2017. He was foreign policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group from 2017 to 2021 and is still a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Djir-Sarai represents the North Rhine-Westphalian constituency of Neuss I in the Bundestag. He is also a member of the state executive board of the NRW-FDP.

Unlike Secretary General Djir-Sarai, Reymann worked in the background. The federal managing director had only been in office since March 1st. Before that, he first worked as Lindner’s office manager in the Bundestag and then in the management staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance.