FDP paper: “D-Day scenario” on coalition break-up
Published: Thursday, Nov 28th 2024, 20:00
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The FDP leadership has gone through a possible exit from the traffic light coalition in detail. This is made clear by a paper that the party has now published itself in order to create transparency, according to its own statements. Table.briefings had previously reported on this. The eight-page document - apparently a PowerPoint presentation - is entitled "D-Day scenarios and measures".
Discussion about the "ideal time" to leave the coalition
It states, for example, that the "ideal time" and an "announced exit" from the coalition could be in the middle of the 45th calendar week between November 4 and 10. On November 6, the alliance was indeed broken - but by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) dismissing FDP leader Christian Lindner as finance minister at a meeting of the coalition committee.
The paper had previously been weighed up: The "advised exit" at this time would entail risks due to the US presidential election taking place at the same time. In order to "decouple somewhat" from this, an exit could take place at the beginning of the 45th calendar week on November 4. Other obstacles are cited in the event of a postponement: the budget committee's clean-up meeting, the planned Green Party conference and a separate party conference, which would have to be prepared and to which invitations would have to be sent.
Prepared Lindner statement
It also sets out a "core narrative" - i.e. a main message with which the exit could be linked. Fundamental differences in economic policy between the red-green coalition and the FDP cannot be bridged by compromises. The federal government itself had become the biggest location risk. "The German people should decide in early elections which path Germany will take in the future," it continued. A prepared statement by Lindner is already included, as well as scenarios as to when, where and through which channels the break-up of the coalition could best be announced.
"D-Day" and "Battle of the Field"
The phrase D-Day appears several times in the paper. It is primarily known in connection with the Second World War - on June 6, 1944, "D-Day", the Allied landings in Normandy began to liberate Europe from National Socialism. The FDP had previously denied its use. "That is not true. This term has not been used," said General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai on November 18 in an interview with RTL/ntv, referring to media reports at the time. In the FDP paper, a final phase called "open field battle" is also listed in a D-Day "sequence pyramid".
FDP speaks of "working paper"
The FDP describes the document as a "working paper", which was first prepared by the party's federal managing director on October 24, now published in the latest version on November 5. "This technical paper has not been the subject of political consultation between elected representatives and members of the government, but a purely internal preparation for the scenario of the FDP leaving the traffic light coalition," it says.
"We have nothing to hide," wrote the FDP in an entry on X. General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai said: "We have never made a secret of the fact that without an economic turnaround, an end to the traffic light could be a possible outcome of what we call the autumn of decisions." He spoke of scandalizing the preparation for scenarios. "If the entire German media landscape was already speculating about the end of traffic lights at this point, then it is only professional to prepare for this option."
"Zeit" investigation into "calculated rupture" had triggered discussions
Following the end of the coalition, initial reports had already triggered discussions about the causes and authors of the coalition break-up. "Zeit" and "Süddeutsche Zeitung" reported that scenarios for the end of the coalition had been played out in several meetings of the closest FDP leadership since the end of September - there was talk of a "script".
Ex-coalition partners react indignantly
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil criticized the now published paper on Platform X: "The FDP is organizing a "field battle" against a government to which they themselves belong. It's good that everything is slowly coming out and citizens can get an idea." Green parliamentary group leader Britta Hasselmann wrote that one could only shake one's head at "this martial talk of an open field battle and D-Day" from the FDP. "Who wants to hear this kind of muckraking," she added.
Battle for interpretative sovereignty
A battle is already raging between the SPD and FDP in particular over the extent to which the rift was provoked by one side. Lindner, for example, spoke of a "staged dismissal" by the Chancellor. Scholz let it be known that he should perhaps have made the decision to dismiss Lindner earlier. "It's no secret that I thought about it beforehand when, despite the many hours we spent together in the summer, we simply couldn't agree on the federal budget for 2025," he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in mid-November.
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