It has been quiet the last few days: half of Germany is dawning during the Christmas holidays, the political scene is still breathing for the New Year, the FDP is using the turning point for the Epiphany. But the silence is not only due to the time of year – nobody in the political center really wants to argue. Not even about the Federal President.
If the firecracker fails, at least one could have set off a political fireworks display because of the election of the Federal President! An opposing candidate from the Union would at least have sent the political signal: Frank-Walter Steinmeier is not teasing us enough, not even for the dreary office of national wreath-laying man. The Greens could have voted for a (their) wife (Katrin Göring-Eckardt), and the coalition would have been a little bit wrong.
Instead, Steinmeier. No-experiments-Steinmeier. “Especially in these times, a credible voice is needed at the head of our state that brings together and does not exclude”, said Armin Laschet briefly. All those involved order the highest German state office as casually as if they were adding a pile of paper to the office printer. This lack of dispute is an expression of the current balance of power in government and opposition – not only in this case does it not lead to the best result.
Arguing is out in established circles
Steinmeier is as comfortable as a medium-warm cup of chamomile tea. His speeches are a little better than Olaf Scholz’s, but that’s all that can be said of him. In view of a traffic light that has so far been rather voiceless, powerful speeches and encouragement from the top of the state, reconciliation or even an angry jerk at the people would actually be desirable. After all, there is still a lot to be endured in the next four years: pandemic, digitization, climate change, Russia, torch-spinners on the street, and who knows what else is to come. Chamomile tea doesn’t help, it doesn’t make you drunk or brave, it doesn’t calm you down and it doesn’t keep you awake.
But arguing is a bit out in the corridors of power. Whether it is about the Federal President, nuclear power plants or Russia, it is relatively calm despite the daily rhythm of conflict lines. There is a great need for harmony at the traffic lights, because they don’t want to drift apart in the first 100 days. The political rifts are wide and laboriously bridged – just no tremors now!
But the Union is also snuggled up these days: CSU boss Markus Söder and the future CDU boss Friedrich Merz showed up together in the fresh air – “Storm of Love”, wrote the SZ magazine excellent. The audience laughs heartily at the increasingly dumbfounded politician photos. Söder’s photo editor, a person with a gloomy heart and blazing talent, once again selected the shots in such a way that Söder looks like Aragorn, who is leading Gollum through Kirchsee. Söder can do that, he already let Armin Laschet on Pictures look bad.
The political is private
The couple pictures of Markus and Friedrich are already the sharpest internal political conflict these days. The back rows take over the quarrel: the great liberal Gerhart Baum railed against Wolfgang Kubicki before the liberal Dreikönig-Sausegave the north German lawyer and Bundestag Vice-President lessons on “freedom”.
The party leaders are more disciplined. In the center of power, pragmatism and discipline rule: everyone regulates the compulsory vaccination as they like, you have to be pragmatic, clear up the topic – that’s how it works, but even the parliamentary dispute is postponed for the time being. Integration in the sense of “keeping the store together” is the imperative for the traffic lights, the Union, the CDU and also the FDP. While gentlemen like Kubicki and Baum and maybe still Hans Ulrich Rülke and Winfried Kretschmann quarrel, rule the young.
The Federal Chancellor, for example, seems to be calm about the fact that Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is shooting arrows at Russia and Nord Stream 2 on her trip. He leaves the leash, merely pointing out that there is such a thing. The SPD sees the gas pipeline from Russia very differently than the Greens: Nord Stream 2 is a private-sector project, not a political one. Rumor has it that party leader Lars Klingbeil and Chancellor Scholz spent nights practicing with a coach to get the phrase “Nord Stream 2 is not political” without giggling.
Polemizing, positioning, profiling
“The private is political” it used to be said – “the political is private” could be the motto of the traffic light. She can’t even argue about nuclear power anymore, which is also different from the seventies. Germany reacts to the EU Commission’s nuclear-friendly taxonomy policy by stirring the coffee again and shrugging its shoulders. A letter of protest follows, but that’s about it.
Only Sigmar Gabriel, a political veteran from another, more contentious time, vented his displeasure with nuclear indifference. “My advice: only take seriously those who are willing to be looked for at home for a nuclear waste repository”, Gabriel lectured on Twitter. Because: “All the others are unsuspecting mouth heroes.”
That’s it, the man-sound of the old republic. Kretschmann, Baum, Kubicki, Gabriel still play him, they argue, edge, straddle, polemicize, position and profile, as middle-aged men particularly like to do – writes the middle-aged man.
Even Merz is defused
Only one person, who otherwise followed on from the nineties in terms of style and at least is close to retirement age at 66, no longer wants to be part of this revival band: Friedrich Merz. His clearest words now apply only to the AfD – “a firewall” should stand for her. That is what Laschet would have said too.
One can welcome this phase of harmony. If the dispute is only carried out in a well-mannered manner in parliamentary and party bodies instead of through the media, it is easier for opponents to reassemble each other afterwards. After all, the noise of the argument with extremists and lateral thinkers in marketplaces and at dining tables is loud enough. This applies regardless of whether one sees the country as “divided” or vehemently denies this idea and demonstratively at every opportunity, like the SPD around Olaf Scholz.
But conflict is the pulse of democracy. It can have a cleansing effect. The fact that Merz still does not comment on the fiery ex-secret service agent Hans-Georg Maaßen is certainly useful for the harmony – but it is also slapped. Is it really a private matter that Germany makes itself dependent on Russia, even though the Green Foreign Minister is rightly against it? Instead of the original liberal tree, shouldn’t someone in an active position have had to say something about Kubicki’s corona assessments?
Maybe the country just needs a bit of rest after two years of pandemic and din on the streets and internet channels. We don’t argue, we don’t bang, we stir chamomile tea. In this respect, Steinmeier is perhaps exactly the right person for this time.