After the FDP left the Lower Saxony state parliament, deputy party leader Kubicki called for a return to the old “spirit” of the traffic light coalition. The achievements of the FDP should be highlighted more clearly, he says on the ARD talk show “Maischberger”.
Long faces at the FDP on Sunday following the state elections in Lower Saxony: With 4.7 percent of the vote, the Liberals are no longer represented in the state parliament in Hanover. Now the deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki has criticized his party. “A large number of voters are unfamiliar with the appearance of the coalition and the FDP,” analyzes Kubicki on the ARD talk show “Maischberger”. “We have to make it clear to voters that we have played a key role in the success of the coalition’s decisions,” he emphasizes. In Germany, for example, there would have been a completely different infection protection law if the FDP had not been represented in the governing coalition. Kubicki spoke out very clearly once morest the introduction of general compulsory vaccination.
Nobody is thinking regarding a break in the coalition. Germany has “problems of a magnitude that we have never known before. We are constantly thinking regarding solving them.” But that must reach the voters, demands Kubicki. Instead, the media is constantly conveying what problems the Greens would have if they had to jump over their own shadow. “When we started, we had a common spirit. Now we realize that it no longer exists. Either we go back there, or we will find that everyone does their own thing in the coalition. But then there is no common spirit more projects that can be sold as success,” says Kubicki.
“The nuclear power plant problem will be solved next week”
It has not yet been clarified how long the nuclear power plants that are still connected to the grid are to continue to be operated. Kubicki demands that all three nuclear power plants remain connected to the grid, preferably until mid-2024. For him, the important thing is not the date, but the question of whether they are needed to support the power grid. The problem should be solved by Parliament in the next week of the Bundestag session. “It’s not regarding the well-being of the Greens,” says Kubicki, “but regarding the well-being of the people. We mustn’t take the risk that we won’t have enough electricity in a dark doldrums phase – with the result that not only industrial companies have to be shut down, but that private households have no light and are freezing.”
But it’s also regarding price stability: as long as gas-fired power plants have to be used to produce electricity, it’s expensive. That regulates the electricity market: There, the price depends on the most expensive power plants, and these are gas-fired power plants. If they were switched off, electricity would automatically become cheaper, says Kubicki.
Kubicki once morest the opening of Nord Stream 2
After Russian President Putin’s offer to route gas through an undamaged pipe of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, Kubicki spoke out once morest opening it. The Russian gas is not necessary, the storage facilities in Germany are full. In addition, Germany would receive LNG gas from the USA from January. That would also happen in Germany, adds Kubicki. Regarding the sanctions once morest Russia, the FDP politician says: “Having gone so far with the sanctions, we shouldn’t take them back.”
At the same time, Kubicki is demanding the continued delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. Unlike his party colleague Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, however, he believes that the delivery of battle tanks only makes sense if other NATO countries pull in the same direction.
In the end, the moderator wants to know whether the traffic light coalition will really last until 2025. Kubicki is absolutely certain: In the current crisis, a break in the coalition is unthinkable. They only sat together until midnight on Monday, and the atmosphere was very cordial. “Have faith that we will solve the problems this country has,” promises Kubicki.