Election campaign: Merz: “Four percent are four percent too much for the FDP”

Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz warned voters from the fact that a vote for the FDP could be given away in the Bundestag election. “Four percent are too much for the FDP and four percent too little for the Union,” the CDU boss told the newspapers of the Funke media group and the French newspaper “Ouest-France”. “The voters have to consider whether votes for the FDP are lost in the end.” The FDP currently ranks around four percent in several surveys.

The FDP chairman Christian Lindner accused Merz that he flirted “again with the Greens”. “33 or 31 percent for the CDU do not make a difference, but four or six percent for the FDP change a lot in the republic. Then there is no black-green,” said Lindner. The designated FDP general secretary Marco Buschmann said: “If you want to be sure that Friedrich Merz does not make Robert Habeck again, you can only choose FDP now.”

Merz still employs the FDP voting behavior

Merz said he had seen with some concern how the FDP parliamentary group had fallen apart last Friday in the Bundestag in the vote on the so-called influx limitation law of the Union Group. “This should have an impact on the elections,” said the CDU chairman. Despite the approval of the AfD, the bill failed because a number of MPs from Union and FDP did not take part in the vote. There were also two votes against the FDP faction and five abstentions.

Lindner had recently promoted black and yellow and appealed to the Union to attend an alliance with the liberals after the Bundestag election in February.

For the most recent advance of the FDP – it wants to link the Union’s so -called inflow limitation law with the European asylum reform and bring to vote before the election – said Merz: “Our influx limitation law has been rejected last week.” The FDP’s advance is therefore primarily aimed at the SPD and the Greens. The rest of the spamp must now give an answer.

Union will not refuse reasonable proposals

The Union will not refuse reasonable proposals, said Merz. However, it should not be forgotten that the European asylum reform will only be used by all EU countries after a long transition phase in mid-2026. “Even if there is now a vote in the Bundestag, this will not lead to substantial changes in the next 16 months.”

When asked whether he would do without national measures if a European asylum system works, Merz said: “I would always give preference to Europe. But then Europe has to deliver.” A lot has been negotiated in Europe in recent years and little has been achieved.