Press dismantles FDP: “They have done themselves in”

A detailed paper from the FDP on the exit from the traffic light coalition puts the party leadership in need of an explanation and causes chaos for the Liberals: General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai resigns.

The debate is a real treat for political opponents. The “D-Day” scenario is also causing people to shake their heads in the German press. Many commentators are bothered by the fact that the party only made its plans for the traffic light exit public after it had already been leaked to some media and see the party leadership as being convicted of lying after previous verbose denials.

Here is a selection of comments from local media, the full length opinion pieces are linked at the end of this article.

“Almost three months before the election, the Liberals are working hard and diligently to get out of the Bundestag. They have done themselves in. They always wanted to be the bourgeois corrective in a coalition with two left-wing parties. Now it turns out that they have no choice but to do so have lost civil decency (…) Lying is not possible. Another basic rule of public communication. The FDP leadership has destroyed a lot of trust.”

“It was foolish enough to arm the plan with terms like “open field battle” or the Allies’ D-Day in Normandy. To then deny exactly that for weeks and ultimately lie to the public – that creates political dissatisfaction in these difficult times.

It is democratic custom to answer for one’s mistakes. FDP General Bijan Djir-Sarai has now done that for the Liberals.”

“It’s downright laughable. To now try to dismiss the whole thing as a little planning game by a federal executive whose paper the entire leadership knew nothing about is absolutely unbelievable. Even if that were the case, it would be bad enough and would show how little the party leader had his business under control.”

“Revealing if only because FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai had claimed just a few days ago that the term “D-Day” had never been used. But that wasn’t enough: Bijan Djir-Sarai even called it an “insolence”, that the media had assumed otherwise. And FDP silverback Wolfgang Kubicki called the reports “fairy tales”. But the eight-page paper shows in an irritating way what the FDP was really about: just itself.

“Why is a party running so blindly into the shitstorm? A possible explanation: “D-Day” does not refer to the Allied landings in Normandy, but to the Hollywood actress Doris Day. That would make sense, because it is striking Many of Day’s film successes can be read as an allusion to the traffic light ending: “Not with me, gentlemen”, “One too many in bed”, and (unfortunately not alongside Olaf Scholz): “Magic Nights in Rio”

The much more likely explanation: The D-Day presentation was already available to several editorial teams, including the Handelsblatt, at the time it was published by the FDP. Reporting could no longer have been prevented anyway, hence the flight forward.”

“Until the end, those responsible for the party tried to deny the existence of such a document in public. They spoke of “lies” and “fairy tales.” A look at the most recent statements by Christian Lindner and Co. shows how far some people have gone one has thereby distanced himself from the truth.”

“The over-staging of politics is a weakness that politicians fall more and more into as their entire lives become the stuff of social media soaps. If the over-staging then becomes obvious, as in the case of the “D-Day” paper FDP, it doesn’t look like a professional activity, but rather like a soap opera.

And who wants an official operetta state, even if you’re entertained by its funny side?”

“It is legitimate for a party to decide that it no longer wants to be part of a government coalition. It can also prepare for all possible scenarios. However, the strategy paper now gives the impression that the FDP is at least above and beyond vis-à-vis the coalition partners and the public was not entirely honest for a short period of time: While she had already mentally said goodbye to the traffic lights, FDP leader Christian Lindner spoke about government responsibility at his party’s economic summit at the end of October “D-Day” had denied it, but it can now be read in black and white (…) The FDP is the main responsible for the traffic light break, and those who accuse it of a set-up game now have the upper hand.”