Wednesday October 27, 2021
Wissing in the “early start”
The schedule for the formation of a government is ambitious but possible
FDP General Secretary Wissing expects Olaf Scholz to become Federal Chancellor in the second week of December. It takes a lot of imagination for the traffic light to say “it can go together”.
FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing was optimistic on RTL / ntv Frühstart that the SPD politician Olaf Scholz will be elected Chancellor the week after Nikolaus. “We are planning to form a federal government in the week of December 6th, which is an ambitious plan, but I am confident that we will achieve it.”
In Wissing’s opinion, there is currently no sensible alternative to the traffic light constellation: “The CDU / CSU are looking for themselves and are more concerned with themselves than with the country.” The Union now needs time – and Germany still needs a stable government. “I do not lack the imagination for a cooperation with the Union, as far as the content is concerned, but there is obviously a leadership crisis in the Union,” Wissing continued. You don’t even know who you can talk to and how the Union will resolve its personnel issues.
But the traffic light is not a sure-fire success either. “If you put the party programs of the SPD, Greens and FDP side by side, you really need a lot of imagination to say that it can go together, but we answered that with the exploratory paper.” The paper forms the basis of the coalition negotiations that begin today. Wissing says that clear principles apply to the FDP: “There will be no tax increases and there will be no easing of the debt brake.” The state could not always generate new income, “otherwise the whole thing adds up to immeasurable”.
The FDP, on the other hand, wants to mobilize private capital, because climate protection is not always just about state investments. “The main emissions do not come from the state, but from the economy.” Now you have to creatively set up a financial table. “It would be easier to raise taxes and to reach into the pockets of the citizens.”
FDP “belongs in the middle”
For Wissing, an extension of the operating times of the nuclear power plants is out of the question in order to achieve the climate targets. “We have decided to get out of nuclear energy, that is the clear will of the German population.” The aim is to create climate neutrality with renewable energies. That is why the expansion must now be accelerated. “Ultimately, we need a reliable and affordable energy supply.” That is also in the interests of the economy.
Wissing confirms the FDP’s wish to change the seating arrangements in the German Bundestag. The Liberals would like to swap places with the Union and move into the middle. “Our concern is that we get the place in parliament that we have in many state parliaments. The FDP belongs in the middle and not on the right,” says Wissing. The traditional seating arrangement, the left-right scheme, can only be used for the FDP by “placing the center party in the middle”.