Small majority in FDP member survey to remain in coalition “The democratic House of Europe is holding out. For us, nothing is more important than this.”

The FDP party leadership and the traffic light partners can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being: when the FDP members voted on remaining in the coalition, 52.24 percent of voters were in favor of continuing government work, while 47.76 percent wanted it. to end the alliance, as the Deutsche Presse-Agency learned from party circles on Monday. However, only a third of members participated in the survey: 26,058 out of approximately 72,100.

The party leadership around its chairman, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, had campaigned for the coalition and now sees the result as a boost for itself. However, it is unlikely that traffic light management will become easier as a number of issues remain unresolved.

The FDP’s federal board launched the investigation on December 18 after 598 members submitted a request to conduct it. Members could participate online for two weeks. The question was: “Should the FDP end the coalition with the SPD and the Greens as part of the federal government?” The answer can be ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

The vote of the members has no practical consequences. Because the statutes also state: “The party organs are not bound in their decision-making by the results of the membership survey.” The result is therefore considered an atmospheric image.

Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) wrote on Platform X, formerly Twitter: “A majority of the FDP base wants the party to continue to take its responsibility.” He estimated participation at “almost 40 percent.”

Vice-chairman of the FDP, Wolfgang Kubicki, sees the party strengthened by the research results. “It’s a good result because it shows both the will to stay at the traffic lights and the will to change,” Kubicki told the German news agency. “This result gives us support for a confident course within and with the traffic lights.”

Participation in the coalition with the SPD and the Greens was controversial in parts of the FDP from the start. The result could initially pacify the discussion within the party. And the traffic light partners would also benefit from this. After all, government policy has recently been repeatedly overshadowed by disputes.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also been critical of the coalition’s performance in recent months. “Discussions about the right path are part of it. Also the fight for fair compromises – even if I could have done without some of the loud debates of recent weeks and months,” the SPD politician said in his New Year’s speech. However, a democracy cannot function without discussions about the right path. “Nothing will get better if we just talk about each other instead of to each other. What makes us strong is our willingness to make compromises.”

The traffic light government must continue to show a willingness to compromise in the coming weeks and months. Following the Federal Constitutional Court’s budget ruling, the coalition continues to discuss the 2024 budget. According to the government’s plans, the Bundestag’s budget committee should vote on the changes and planned cuts to the draft budget in mid-January. A week of debate on the budget and the final decision is planned in the Bundestag at the end of January. The budget could then be adopted by the Federal Council in early February. It is unclear whether the schedule can be maintained.

And the issue of migration also remains a huge challenge for the traffic light coalition. According to a survey, more than two-thirds do not trust the federal government to come up with solutions. In the Yougov opinion research institute’s survey for “Welt am Sonntag,” about 69 percent of the 2,000 respondents said they “not at all” or “not at all” believed the traffic light could do this. About 23 percent said they “somewhat” or “completely” believed the governing coalition could do this. About 9 percent answered ‘don’t know’. (sda/dpa)