Germany megathread

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Word is out that Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is about resign

aaaaaannnnnnnd she's gone

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Traffic Light coalition has reportedly, according to Tagesschau, reached an agreement to reform the Bundestag election law. It's pretty much the previous proposal for a cap of parliaments size, only at 630 seats instead of the 598 the constitution requires at minimum. Accordingly, the district winners with the weakest election results would not gain a seat.

TBH I think this is actually an awful idea. What is the point of having the first vote, then? I think the German MMP system is quite nice in mixing proportional and direct representation. Why not just cut the minimum number of seats to 250 (or fewer) like was previously suggested?

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Traffic Light coalition railroaded the electoral reform bill through today. 400 in favor, 261 against, 23 abstentions.


Die Linke and the CSU have pledged to take this to the Federal Constitutional Court, calling it an attack on democracy. I cannot believe I am agreeing with two parties I absolutely disdain but I hope it gets struck down. Such an unnecessarily convoluted law when there are much simpler alternatives.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Traffic Light coalition railroaded the electoral reform bill through today. 400 in favor, 261 against, 23 abstentions.


Die Linke and the CSU have pledged to take this to the Federal Constitutional Court, calling it an attack on democracy. I cannot believe I am agreeing with two parties I absolutely disdain but I hope it gets struck down. Such an unnecessarily convoluted law when there are much simpler alternatives.

I agree that the law is dumb (and will look even dumber if it is eventually struck down by the Court), but considering how things are going sometimes within the coalition it could also be a case of: this is the one compromise SPD, Greens, and FDP could agree upon.

But that's precisely what I don't understand: why was the original proposal where the number of direct and proportional mandates was cut from 598 to 500 scrapped? There has been very little debate and transparency on this. Who objected to what?

I have tried to keep myself abreast of what goes on the Bundestag and subscribe to multiple newsletters, but even the SPD didn't send out anything and my MdB Hakan Demir basically said nothing about it.

It's very strange and feels very undemocratic.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Quite a bit of news this week on the legislative front:

1.) Immigration & Citizenship Reform

The Federal Council approved a draft law of the new Skilled Workers' Act, with the aim of transitioning Germany's immigration system to a Canadian-style points-based system and loosening citizenship rules and restrictions.

For the points-based system, points are awarded to immigrants for qualities such as educational attainment, relevant professional experience, being under the age of 35, speaking English at a C1 level (just 1 point though), speaking German at a B1 level (2 points) or B2 level (3 points), or demonstrating a strong connection to Germany in some way (marriage, business, long-residency, etc.). Immigrants will need a total of 6 out of 10 points to be approved to immigrate.

For citizenship, the current ban on dual-citizenship that only has a few exceptions will be abolished; instead dual citizenship up to the third generation will be allowed. And instead of requiring 8 years of permanent residency, the new requirement will be just 5 years, and if the applicant can prove they have taken strong measures to integrate (e.g. language proficiency), then this will be shortened to just 3 years.  

Finally, the law mandates that the process becomes faster and easier to apply for; there are large backlogs of citizenship applications that have built up over the past few years. The Federal Employment Agency also wants the process to become more digitized, explicitly calling for the end of fax machine-based communications.

However, after the Federal Council, the draft law must first be submitted to the Bundestag, where it only needs (and is virtually certain to get) a simple majority, but then must be sent to the Bundesrat, where the CDU technically has a blocking majority and can water down or force changes to the law. While the CDU has derided the Traffic Light coalition's proposed reforms as "cheapening German citizenship", they have not offered any specific counterpoints, nor have they rejected the reform entirely. We could see a situation similar situation to the Bürgergeld reform, where the CDU forces mostly cosmetic changes to the law before approving it. So stay tuned.

The coalition partners have emphasized that this is not the end-all be-all solution to the workforce shortages, which will require further actions such as additional education and training, and continued drawing existing residents off of the sidelines. Which brings us to our next topic...


2.) Education & Training Policy

They also approved a draft law of a Further Education Act. The law's goal is to modernize Germany's system of training programs and additional education after primary studies. Changes include a legal guarantee for an apprenticeship position, fixed rates of support for the training of employees, opening up support for continuing training to all companies, qualification allowance for companies undergoing structural change, training guarantee with traineeships for career orientation and mobility bonus, among others.

The Further Education Act is paired with the Skilled Workers' Act as part of a strategy to attract new talent from abroad but also fully maximize the potential of existing talent in the country.


3.) Climate & Infrastructure Policy

The Traffic Light Coalition recently finished a three-day intensive negotiation period, and it looks like the Greens are the primary losers here in terms of having to compromise on the planned modifications to the Climate Protection Act from 2019.

So far, the annual emissions of greenhouse gases for the economic sectors such as energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture, waste management and others have been recorded individually. Now the strict annual limits are to be relaxed. Instead, compliance with the climate protection goals should “in future be checked using a cross-sectoral and multi-annual accounting”, as stated in the traffic light decision paper. In other words: Not every sector has to comply with the CO2 limits set for it, as long as the amount saved is appropriate overall.

In addition, the federal ministries responsible for the respective sectors should no longer have to draw up emergency programs for more climate protection if the goals are not met. Instead, the government only has to make adjustments if the data indicate that the climate targets for 2030 will not be met for two consecutive years - for all sectors together. This could slow down the process of becoming climate-neutral by 2045 because there is no longer a need to react immediately to possible violations of the binding targets set forth in the 2019 act.

The FDP also won against the Greens with their demand for continued equal prioritization of road construction just as much as railways. While the Greens demanded that railways be given priority, a total of 144 road projects will be given special status and implemented more quickly. However, the Greens did succeed in a binding commitment to more solar panels for every kilometer of roadway constructed.

The Greens also lost to the FDP on the topic of heating systems. Almost a year ago, when the Ukraine war started, a first draft law from Habeck's ministry was interpreted as a de facto ban on the installation of new gas and oil heating systems. The draft law now retains an openness to new technologies, which will allow heaters using hydrogen or climate-friendly fossil fuels to be used. Overall, every newly installed heating system should be operated with 65 percent renewable energy from 2024 onwards.

So far, the environmentalist movement is apoplectic about it, and see it as a disaster. The FDP has presented this as a win, while the SPD has emphasized the acceleration of infrastructure projects and said that this is not the end of climate legislation in the current legislative term.

However, not all is lost from the Green side: the new Deutschland-Tempo means that infrastructure such as railways and renewable energy projects will be approved and built faster. Major investments in charging stations at every petrol station, e-trucks, e-busses, and cycle lanes are provided for. EU emissions trading will be expanded to more sectors. 25% of all freight traffic should be carried by rail by 2030. The Deutsche Bahn will receive 45 billion Euros by 2027, financed largely by an increase in the truck toll and heavy-vehicles toll, and the BahnCard 100 will be expanded to local rail as well. A new goal of 15 million electric vehicles on Germany's roads by 2030 has been set.

There was also no mention of the planned basic child security that was agreed to in the 2021 coalition contract. The CDU attacked the SPD for this, and the SPD replied that there is still a major backlog of reforms that will continue to be worked through, and also referenced the already-implemented increases in child benefits and supplement payments.

So the Traffic Light coalition lives on. But now instead of the FDP being the unhappy camper, it's now the Greens. And this comes after some previous big losses such as the extension of nuclear power plant operations, the fiasco with internal-combustion bans at the EU level,

The CDU chimed in with a little trolling on the budget, lack of child allowance, and the "weakening of climate protection goals". Die Linke said Scholz's leadership was "weak", and the AfD mostly just whined about the heating system requirements.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Bundestag-geht-ersten-Schritt-zu-laengerer-Legislatur-article24088523.html

Germany could adopt 5-year election terms for the Bundestag instead of 4-year terms

The SPD, CDU, FDP, and Greens all agree in theory that the parliamentary term should be extended.

However, should be noted that this is only a commission recommendation and not an actual legislative proposal.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Happy 160th birthday to the SPD!

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/bundestag-pflegereform-gesetz-100.html

Can't spend too much time breaking this down due to a busy schedule, but the Bundestag passed a reform of the long-term care system on the 26th, and it will come into effect on July 1st.

The meat of the bill is that at-home caregivers are now entitled to allowances from the fund between 316 and 901 euros per month. This will cost some 6.6 billion EUR, hence the payroll tax for long-term care will go up starting in July, with the employer share increasing from 1.525% to 1.7%, and then the employee share is graded more sharply based on the number of dependent children: childless adults will see a hike from the current 1.7% to 2.3%, those with one child will pay 1.7%, two children pay 1.45%, three children 1.2%, four children pay 0.95%, and five and up will pay 0.7%. As those with two or more have those children turn 25, their rate moves up based on the above until it settles at 1.7% after the final child is no longer dependent and it applies forever.

From July 1, 2025, an annual budget of 3,539 EUR will be introduced for caregivers to use flexibly based upon needs.

Approximately 4 million people receive care at home in Germany.

The SPD and Greens wanted further support, while the FDP raise concerns about escalating taxes. However, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) emphasized that this was a first step, and further recommendations for long-term care reform will be published later this year.

On one hand, I'm happy to pay my share and think it's a rightful measure, but also dislike the ever-increasing payroll taxes that are borne by wage-earners like me. Unfortunately Germany views anyone born after 1985 as a cash cow to be milked dry, with no end in sight. My combined total share of taxes and insurances is already 36.9% of my income, but the capital gains tax remains a paltry flat rate of just 25%. Must be nice to be born into an asset-rich family.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

On Friday, the Bundestag passed three landmark laws: a new Skilled Workers' Act, a new Training & Continuing Education Act with an apprenticeship guarantee, and new amendments to the Criminal Code ("Strafgesetzbuch") regarding sexual orientation- and gender-specific crimes

The Skilled Workers' Act establishes a points-based immigration system, faster processing of applications, faster and easier recognition of foreign degrees and work experience, new job seeker visa, slightly lower salary for EU Blue Card, easier to change industries, easier to bring dependents with you, refugees/asylum seekers who entered before March 2023 can enter vocational training if qualified

• Jobs must either meet a minimum salary threshold or be subject to a collective agreement
• Points system takes into account qualifications, language skills, professional experience, previous stays, age and dependents coming with the applicant
• Graduates from German universities/apprenticeships automatically receive a 1-year opportunity card that allows them to stay in the country past their graduation and enables part-time and trial work while looking for full-time work
• Sectors deemed to have acute labor shortages will receive special attention for applications and processing, so long as the job offers are subject to fair pay, collective bargaining contracts, and compulsory social insurance coverage
• The existing Western Balkans Regulations quota will be doubled from 25,000 to 50,000 per year

The Continuing Education Act includes an apprenticeship guarantee, government funding for continuing education/training is both expanded and simplified, new funding (called “qualification money”) introduced for workers who are threatened with redundancy due to structural change in their industry, trainees receive higher pay (equal to 60% of the equivalent full-time salary, or 67% if they have a child), a new vocational orientation is introduced for young people can have a test-period to try out the apprenticeship before actually deciding and starting, support is given for those who start training in another region of Germany and will receive a subsidy for two monthly trips back home, and anyone who cannot find an apprenticeship in their region is entitled to external training in a cooperation company and will receive monetary support.

• Qualification Money requires a company-specific or sector-wide collective agreement, where an employer’s top-up can be determined
• Training support in small and medium-sized businesses will be greatly expanded
• The apprenticeship guarantee is part of the Continuing Education Act and aims to deal with the fact that many people are not able to find apprenticeship slots despite a shortage of technically-skilled workers. Oftentimes, people are located in the wrong location, far away from apprenticeships of their choice and must either relocate using their own money, pursue an apprenticeship in something they don't want, or forgo an apprenticeship altogether

The Criminal Code amendments I am having a harder time finding detailed information on, but basically it is about clarifying and strengthening the definitions and penalties for hate crimes regarding gender and sexual orientation.

• There is also an additional reform of substitute prison sentences when fines are not paid to take pressure off the prison system. Determination of fines will also take into account the person's socioeconomic status (e.g. poverty, unemployment, homelessness or mental illness) to maintain proportionality. Fines can also be paid in installments and a substitute for unpaid community work will also be introduced
• Expansion of rehabilitation-focused treatment for those in need of treatment and willing to be treated. Focus on keeping violent offenders from using rehab centers as a way of getting out of stricter punishment, will take pressure off of the rehab centers. Prevents dangerous addicted offenders from being released due to lack of treatment places.
• Killing a woman because she is a woman must be recognized as femicide and regularly punished as murder with base motives. Patriarchal claims of ownership and misogynist notions of gender inequality must be recognized and named when identifying base motives. The assessment as murder must not be undermined by victim-blaming argumentation patterns.

The citizenship reform is also planned for final passage soon.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Today, Lars Klingbeil, one of the two co-chairs of the SPD, endorsed raising the minimum wage to 14.00 EUR per hour immediately by legislation.

Recently, the minimum wage commission, which is made up of a panel of representatives from labor unions, employer's associations, and economists and other experts, could not agree on a new minimum wage within the normal corporatist process, and hence the unions were outvoted when the commission voted to raise the minimum wage from the current 12.00 EUR per hour to 12.41 EUR per hour effective January 1st, 2024 and then 12.82 EUR per hour on January 1st, 2025.

For the first time in its history, the Minimum Wage Commission, whose decision is decisive for the statutory determination, did not agree on its recommendation at the beginning of the week. The employee representatives considered the increase to be too low, were outvoted, and raised serious allegations against the employers' side.

An increase of 41 cents per hour represents an increase of just 3.4%, while inflation has clocked in at approximately 8% over the past year in Germany.

Since the introduction of the statutory minimum wage in 2015, the commission has been superseded only once by the Bundestag: in early 2022, the Bundestag raised the minimum wage from 9.60 EUR per hour to 12.00 EUR per hour on October 1st in two steps.

Superseding the commission again is legally sound, but there is of course the worry that this is the cumulation of the long-predicted politicization of the minimum wage that was predicted back in 2015. The SPD, unions, and Greens have severely criticized the small increase, but I have not heard an official declaration from the Greens. Almost certainly they would support such an increase in the minimum wage. However, the FDP has immediately dismissed the increase.


Klingbeil has also announced a three-point plan to counteract the rise of AfD:

Klingbeil wants to fight the high polls of the AfD with a three-point plan for more citizen proximity. "We need three things. Firstly, good politics that tackle people's everyday problems. Wages, housing, pensions, affordable energy, these are the issues. Second: A political style that doesn't tell people how they should be, but takes seriously what's on their minds. And thirdly: get out of Berlin more often and talk to people across the country. We can't be 'the ones sitting in Berlin'.”

The SPD chairman rejected the fact that his party would talk too much about gender and not enough about people's problems: "The only one I know who constantly talks about gender is Friedrich Merz. In the end, these useless debates on the sidelines only strengthen those who look at our society with contempt.”

At the same time, Klingbeil admitted that the strife in the traffic light was of use to the AfD. The ten-week dispute over the building energy law had contributed to uncertainty in the country. "It was too much, it was too loud. The AfD generally benefits from disputes and uncertainty," said Klingbeil.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Federal Constitutional Court has slammed the brakes on final passage of the much-debated Building Energy Act (commonly described as the "Heating Law"), possibly jeopardizing its passage.

The original draft law was submitted to the Bundestag last Friday (June 30th), and final vote was scheduled for this coming Friday (July 7th), before the Bundestag goes on summer recess until late-August.

however, the CDU filed an emergency appeal to the Constitutional Court, which ruled that:

...the Bundestag should be prohibited from final deliberation and voting on the law if the draft law has not been submitted to the members of parliament in writing at least 14 days in advance.

This means that, if the Bundestag is not called to a special session, the law cannot be passed until the Bundestag reconvenes after summer.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

SPD loses Mannheim mayoral post for the first time in 50 years to CDU, 49.9% to 48.7%

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

A little self-promotion here: I spent several hours today expanding on the legislative accomplishments of the Scholz government on the Wikipedia page (in addition to what I already wrote last October)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholz_cabinet#Policy

Next project will be the Kohl, Schröder, and Merkel governments for their actual legislative achievements. I hate so many of these "X cabinet" articles have no actual information other than who the ministers are, regardless of the language of the article.


EDIT - who tf added the table? Ugly and completely unnecessary

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The federal cabinet has passed a draft law for the legalization of recreational cannabis.

Here are the details:

The main provisions in the draft law on the planned legalization of cannabis in Germany include the following points:

• Possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis is not punishable in Germany.
• Each adult may grow up to three cannabis plants at home for their own consumption.
• Cannabis can also be cultivated in so-called cultivation associations with official permission . These may have a maximum of 500 members, who should each receive a maximum of 25 grams of cannabis per day or 50 grams per month.
• Cannabis may only be passed on in the form of marijuana or hashish.
• There is an advertising and sponsorship ban for consumption cannabis and for the cultivation of cannabis.
• Authorities control the quality and quantities of cannabis.
  
• Preventive measures and advice are to be taken over by the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) and by the cultivation associations in cooperation with local addiction advice centers.

The draft also states that the prohibition policy has failed in connection with cannabis - current developments show that consumption is increasing, especially among young people. According to the draft, the law will be reviewed after four years and adjusted if necessary.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The federal cabinet has approved draft laws of the new Self-Determination Act regarding gender identity and transgenderism, and the new Citizenship Act to allow dual citizenship

Self Determination Act:

• the existing Transsexual Act of 1980 will be repealed and replaced by the new act
• Simplified gender registration and name change: the adjustment of the gender entry and the first name is done by self-insurance at the registry office. The humiliating "expert procedure" is to be abolished
• Minors and consent: Persons under the age of 14 require parental consent. Between the ages of 14 and 17, either parental consent or, in the event of an objection, the judgment of the family court is required
• Fines for malicious deadnaming: Anyone who intentionally discloses gender or name in order to cause harm can face fines of up to 10,000 euros

The draft laws now goes to the Bundestag for ratification.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

I'm on vacation and on mobile, so no detailed post, but the federal cabinet has agreed on three new laws: basic child security, industrial electric price cap, and a bureaucracy-reduction law

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Lindner presented the new 2024 budget and he wants to cut spending by 30 billion Euros 😭 😭 😭

This country is suicidally addicted to permanent recession

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The new Building Energy Act (commonly referred to as the Heating Law) was approved by the Bundestag yesterday in a 399-275 vote (5 abstentions).

The major change, which has already been discussed, is that instead of a total ban on new oil & gas heating systems, an overall goal of 65% renewable energy for new heating systems.

Really cool that this issue sucked up all political oxygen in this country since like February.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

In today's sitting of Thuringia's parliament, a proposal of the CDU to reduce real estate purchase excise tax ("Grunderwerbssteuer") from 6,5 to 5% got a majority thanks to the votes of the FDP and the AfD

(which also slashes a €48 million hole into the budget)

The "firewall" has got a gaping huge hole now; the CDU declined to negotiate with the minority Red-Red-Green coalition on the issue beforehand.

Shows where this is all going, at this point it's not a matter of "if", but "when"

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

On Thursday the 21st, the Bundestag passed the Energy Efficiency Act of 2023 into law.

The law makes energy savings mandatory across a wide variety of sectors, from industry to public buildings, and with special focus on data centers. The overall goal is to reduce energy usage by 26.5% in 2030 compared to 2008 levels. 

However, the law was watered down from the original draft from the spring, which included hard targets for industrial companies and a goal for further consumption beyond 2030. However, now some environmentalists claim that the law lacks any positive incentives to actually cut energy consumption, but still requires companies above a certain threshold to draft consumption reduction plans, which now leads to legal uncertainty.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Scholz is apparently reaching out to the CDU/CSU to achieve broad consensus on his so-called "Germany Pact" for reform.

While the Germany Pact specifically entails the topics of modernization, infrastructure, accelerated planning, and better cooperation between municipalities, states and the federal government, the topic of refugees and asylum will also be discussed.

What the Union Wants

According to a report in the “Bild” newspaper, Linnemann and CDU/CSU parliamentary secretary Thorsten Frei have defined several points with which migration should be curbed.

Stationary border controls: They should be requested from the EU and - analogous to the procedure at the border with Austria - also introduced at those with Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has not ruled this out in the future, but is relying on flexible controls on the Polish and Czech borders, including beyond the border line. The police union (GdP) considers this to be “very sensible,” as the chairman of the GdP federal police district, Andreas Roßkopf, told the Berlin “Tagesspiegel” - but this has been practiced for many years.

Payment cards: Asylum seekers should be able to use these to buy food, among other things. “The prepaid cards are intended to prevent them from being able to transfer money to their home countries,” the newspaper quoted from the Linnemann/Frei paper. The coalition partner FDP also represents a similar demand.

However, a general switch from cash to benefits in kind is considered difficult. Community association general manager  Gerd Landsberg  told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”: “The switch to benefits in kind for all asylum seekers is difficult to implement, creates bureaucracy and does not do justice to people with a perspective of staying. According to the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court, pocket money must be paid anyway.”

Asylum seekers with no prospects of staying: They should go through an accelerated asylum procedure in transit zones at the national border. Rejected applicants should be accommodated in return centers. “This is intended to prevent those required to leave the country from going into hiding,” quotes “Bild”. In the centers, those required to leave the country should no longer receive any money, but only benefits in kind “in the amount of the absolute minimum requirements”.

International: The federal government should also end all voluntary admission programs and declare the North African Mahgreb states and India to be safe countries of origin so that applications from asylum seekers from there could be more easily rejected.

Upper limits: Söder's demand is not raised by the CDU. On the contrary: “In my opinion, upper limits are not an answer to the question of how to comply with them,” said North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) to the Germany editorial network.

Generally this is fine, I'm a bit skeptical of declaring some North African states as safe, since clearly some of them are not, but otherwise it will be good if the CDU/CSU can be brought onboard to clear the way in the Bundestag and Bundesrat.

I am surprised that India is not currently considered to be a safe country. Does anyone know why that is?

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Spiegel reporting that 9 members of the Bundestag have resigned from Linke and joined BSW. Now Die Linke is down to just 29 members in the Bundestag, which means they will lose their Fraktion status and with it, major funding

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Die Linke's parliamentary members have voted to dissolve themselves as a "Fraktion" effective from December 6th

They will remain in the Bundestag as a "group", but will lose their status as a "Fraktion" and with it, funding, staffing, and privileges due to their smaller size

So outside of the major parties, if my numbers are correct, there will be 1 member of SSW (elected 2021), 2 members of Zentrum (defected from AfD), 28 members of a rump Linke, and 10 members of BSW

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Federal Constitutional Court announced today that the ruling on the repeat election in Berlin will be made on December 19th 🎅

The question is whether it will be repeated in individual precincts or in six entire constituencies.


Swear to God if we have yet another winter election....

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

I know many FDP members want the party to pull out, both for policy reasons as well as electoral reasons, but I really have to question the long-term thinking on this one.

Do they not think the CDU isn't watching how the FDP is behaving in the Scholz government? The FDP already proved itself an unreliable partner in Merkel's second government from 2009-2013. What party would want to trust the FDP when they now have two examples of throwing a temper tantrum every time they have bad election results?

It should be remembered that being in opposition does not guarantee their survival, either. After they voluntarily pulled out of the Jamaica negotiations in 2017 (when they could have coalitioned with a then-more powerful CDU and less powerful Greens), their polling numbers collapsed and for most of 2018-2021, they were bouncing around the 5% threshold after getting over 11% in the 2017 election. It was the lockdowns dragging on in 2021 that saved them.

They undermined a pure right-of-centre government under Merkel and still got kicked out of parliament in 2013. They pulled out of a Jamaica-coalition in 2017 and then we ended up with a CDU-SPD government, and they still started losing state elections. Now they rubber stamp 95% of an SPD-Green agenda, and then get really pissy about it, and now they want to pull out just 2 years in? The FDP negotiated themselves a bad deal back in 2021. It was not forced upon them, and they have voted through everything even if they have said that they hate it.

Now they will go into a snap election without much of their own agenda passed, but rather just about every policy accomplishment is something associated with the SPD and Greens, and they're pitch to voters will be that they are causing instability and a snap election? They got control of the powerful Finance Ministry, and now are giving up control and are not going to try to salvage the remaining 2 years.

Maybe I'm just a dumb Sozi so I don't get it, but I am seriously asking this: if you are right-of-centre voter......why vote for this party? If you want normal right-of-centre politics, just go vote CDU with Merz at the helm. If you want more radically liberal economic politics, just vote AfD, since they have progressively taken more of the FDP's space on economics over the past 5 years.


I'm of the opinion that the past two years have shown the problem with having more than two parties in government. I think there is a strong chance we get another CDU-SPD government in the event of a snap election if they get a majority together, as we have seen in many state elections. The CDU and SPD are much more consensus-oriented and could probably be convinced to work together again federally due to the crisis situation, as painful as it would be for both parties. The wildcard here, however, is BSW and whatever is going on with Die Linke.

The FDP was in government continuously from 1949 to 1998. Since then, they have been in power only in 2009 - 2013 and then 2021 to the present. If they survive a snap election, are they prepared to possibly be out of power for a long time? The SPD will now never coalition with them ever again after having the FDP stab them in the back twice. The CDU and Greens will likely be wary of relying on them, and probably won't even need them, considering how fractured the political landscape is getting.

I just don't really get what they want to do or be...