Thursday, January 06, 2022
Epiphany meeting of the FDP
Lindner calls for “moderate contact restrictions”
FDP boss and finance minister Lindner reiterates the rejection of widespread closings or lockdowns despite the rampant Omikron variant. Instead, they should rely on 2G rules and more booster vaccinations. So you had previously successfully mastered the fourth wave.
FDP federal chief Christian Lindner has spoken out in favor of moderate contact restrictions with a view to the spread of the Omikron variant. Everything must be done to prevent the closure of schools and companies, he said on the sidelines of the traditional three kings rally of the liberals in Stuttgart. It is the federal government’s new crisis strategy to rely on boosters and moderate contact restrictions – “and not on blanket and comprehensive closure measures or even lockdowns”.
“The protection of health is a great good, but the greatest good of our constitution, that is and remains freedom”, said Lindner afterwards at the event, but: “We should do everything to preserve as much social life as possible.” Many people are afraid of loneliness, of the loss of the opportunity to enjoy their right to an education, and of the loss of their economic existence. What moderate contact restrictions should look like from his point of view, Lindner did not say. There are ideas from the Corona Expert Council that it does not want to anticipate.
German booster campaign extremely successful
He mentioned concepts related to 2G and 2G Plus and the intensification of efforts with boosters. According to Lindner, Germany has organized the most successful booster campaign for vaccinations in Europe in the past few weeks. “With all of these measures we managed to cope with the fourth wave without overwhelming our health system,” said Lindner. This is also the actual task of the measures. On the other hand, he described compulsory vaccination as a sensitive encroachment on people’s right to self-determination, which must rightly be decided without party lines.
Aside from fighting the pandemic, Lindner guarantees low-income citizens financial support given the current high energy prices. The development of energy prices is a real burden, especially for people with low incomes, he said in Stuttgart. One wants to relieve the citizens in the long term, for example by eliminating the so-called EEG surcharge on the electricity price. But it also has to be acted on in the short term. Lindner promised his “solidarity support” to the people who were particularly affected by the high heating costs. He did not provide any more specific information.
In this context, he declared that nuclear energy in Germany would also be a clear rejection in the future. But he warned against “distortion of competition against those who rely on climate-friendly, sustainable energy sources”. “An energy source that can only be established if the state assumes liability, which already shows in a market economy that it cannot be a sustainably responsible source of energy,” said Lindner.
No revival of nuclear power in Germany
According to a proposal by the EU Commission, investments in new gas-fired power plants should be able to be classified temporarily as climate-friendly, especially at Germany’s request. Investments in new nuclear power plants – especially planned in France – should also be classified as green under certain conditions. This classification of economic activities, called taxonomy in technical jargon, is intended to channel more money into sustainable technologies and companies and thus contribute significantly to Europe’s climate neutrality by 2050. “It is clear to me, it is clear to us: Each member state of the European Union decides on issues relating to its own energy generation. And that deserves respect,” said Lindner. “When evaluating these investments, however, it should not be overlooked that nuclear energy may be CO2-free, but is anything but sustainable.” For Germany, “nuclear energy is not an option anyway.”
FDP leader Christian Lindner has also declared the rapid conclusion of return agreements with important countries of origin of asylum seekers a prerequisite for a new immigration policy. “I know that many have the expectation that a lot is happening, especially with regard to humanitarian immigration to Germany,” said the finance minister. This is a concern of the Greens. “But it must be clear that this willingness to take on more humanitarian responsibility must remain inextricably linked with Germany concluding workable return and migration agreements with other countries that work in practice.”
Sometimes the wrong people are deported
The prerequisite for a new openness is control over access to Germany. “A new, also liberal immigration policy must on the one hand create the prerequisites for people to be able to come to us unbureaucratically,” emphasized Lindner. “On the other hand, however, it has to put more emphasis on ensuring that those who have no place with us can be brought back to their old homeland.” At the moment the situation is such that, on the one hand, the wrong people are sometimes deported, namely precisely those who have already set out to be integrated. “On the other hand, however, we will often not be able to send home those who are criminals or threats, who do not respect our free-democratic basic order and the rules of cooperation.”
Lindner emphasized: “So if you want to make rapid progress now with qualified immigration and humanitarian immigration, you have to accelerate in the same way now with the question of how we can come to these workable migration agreements.” He suggested that the special representative for the conclusion of such agreements, provided for in the coalition agreement, be appointed very quickly in the coming weeks.
For more than 140 years, the Liberals have politically started the new year on January 6th in the southwest. In 1866 a forerunner of the FDP, the Württemberg People’s Party, met in Stuttgart for the first “Three Kings Parade”. At the meeting, the FDP traditionally wants to reflect on the values of a liberal mindset and demonstrate self-confidence at the start of the new year.