FDP in crisis: Former Justice Minister Buschmann becomes the new FDP General Secretary

Former Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann will become the new FDP General Secretary after the controversial “D-Day” paper on the traffic light exit. This was confirmed by a party spokesman. Buschmann will therefore play a central role in the federal election campaign. The FDP is in danger of failing at the five percent hurdle in the early elections, which are planned in just under three months.

Buschmann wrote on Platform X that party leader Christian Lindner had asked him to become general secretary of the FDP in a difficult situation. “I will invest all my strength into the task.” Germany needs “a party for freedom and responsibility, performance and a market economy.”

The “Bild” newspaper and the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung”, which is part of the Funke media group, had previously reported on Lindner’s decision.

Lindner told the “Rheinische Post” (Monday): “Marco Buschmann was not only a very recognized justice minister, but also a highly successful party manager. I am relieved that he has agreed to take on one of the most difficult positions in one of the toughest election campaigns of the last seventy years.”

Controversial paper triggers tremors in the party

The FDP is deep in crisis: Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai resigned on Friday. In doing so, he drew the conclusions from the publication of a controversial strategy paper from the Liberals on the traffic light phase-out. Federal Managing Director Carsten Reymann, a former office manager for Lindner, also resigned.

The FDP’s so-called “D-Day” paper contains a detailed scenario for the FDP’s exit from the traffic lights with the SPD and the Greens. It describes the FDP’s possible exit from the traffic lights using military terms such as “D-Day” and “open field battle”. The paper also sparked strong criticism within the party.

The coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP collapsed at the beginning of November after a bitter dispute over the course of budget and economic policy. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) fired his finance minister Lindner, thereby forestalling the Liberals’ exit.

Lindner had said about his party’s working paper that it had never been discussed in political committees and that he had no knowledge of it. He doesn’t blame the employees who drafted the paper. “I bear overall responsibility for the FDP, and I am committed to that,” he said on ARD’s “Tagesthemen”.

Buschmann knows party headquarters

The 47-year-old Buschmann knows the FDP party headquarters well and is considered a close confidante of Lindner. The Gelsenkirchen native was Federal Managing Director of the FDP from 2014 to 2017, and previously General Secretary of the FDP in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2012 to 2014. From the end of 2021 until the traffic light coalition broke up, Buschmann was Federal Minister of Justice.

Buschmann is a fan of electronic music – he said goodbye to the traffic lights with a song he composed himself. The piece on Buschmann’s profile on the online music platform Soundcloud is titled “Walking to Stand”.

FDP threatens to fail at the five percent hurdle

New elections for the Bundestag are planned for February 23rd. The FDP has to worry about re-entry. The party is currently at 3 to 5 percent in the polls, miles away from the 11.5 percent in the 2021 federal election. The Liberals’ election chances are unlikely to have improved as a result of the turbulence of the past few days.

The SPD and the Greens deal against the FDP

After the controversial “D-Day Paper,” the SPD and the Greens condemned the actions of their former coalition partner, the FDP. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said that Lindner and his FDP had “systematically sabotaged” the work of the traffic light government for months. “They wanted to actively prevent this federal government from being successful,” said Scholz at an SPD election campaign conference in Berlin on Saturday. “Something like this must never happen again in Germany.”

In serious times, Germany needs serious politics and “no players and no gamblers,” said Scholz. The Lindner FDP is a radical market client party. SPD leader Saskia Esken said that the FDP had planned the break in the coalition for a long time and staged it like a play in order to put itself in a better position for the federal election.

However, there were also accusations from the ranks of the FDP and the Union that the Chancellor had deliberately caused Lindner’s expulsion and thus the break of the traffic light coalition. Lindner had spoken of a “staging of dismissal” for Scholz.

FDP parliamentary group leader counters

FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr told the German Press Agency: “We are now at the point where the German Chancellor is either consciously telling the untruth or is suffering from significant amnesia. Neither is good.” The FDP has repeatedly made suggestions so that Germany can become economically successful. “Our coalition partners systematically prevented this growth course. This is ultimately why the coalition failed. To now turn these facts into the opposite is more than dishonest.”

Greens doubt Lindner’s portrayal

The Green Party leader Felix Banaszak expressed doubts about Lindner’s claim that he knew nothing about the “D-Day” paper. Green Party leader Franziska Brantner made similar comments. Banaszak said in Cottbus at the party conference of the Brandenburg state association of the Greens that the FDP is a “very authoritarian party.” You have to ask yourself what kind of “people” you want to be ruled by who deal with the truth and untruths in this way.