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TPart 14 of our series of interviews from headquarters, this time with FDP Secretary General Linda Teuteberg. The FDP falls back to five percent in the polls. What’s wrong? We discussed this in a ping pong email to the 38-year-old.
WORLD The exit from the state of emergency has been announced, it is very restricted. Are the Germans too cautious, Mrs Teuteberg?
Linda Teuteberg: No, but everyone knows it: the first walk after a long period of rest is slower than before. Caution is not cowardice and recklessness is not courage. The problem is not excessive caution, but the strange charm of the unconditional, which in some cases leads to an even greater refusal to debate, for example, on the proportionality of restrictions on freedom. Our democracy needs an open debate like the air we breathe.
The end of a closure is much more demanding than the beginning. We need more and not less debate and parliamentary control to face complex challenges with liberal responses. The issue of equal treatment and milder means should be done instead of arbitrariness, for example, in retail trade and in exercising religious freedom through religious services with sufficient distance between participants.
WORLD How do you rate the power struggle between the two prime ministers Markus Söder (CSU) and Armin Laschet (CDU)?
Teuteberg CDU delegates will evaluate this at the next party congress. It is not my job to evaluate that, I will not have the right to vote there. I think the correct thing about Armin Laschet’s suggestions is that he knows that we can only maintain our high-performance health system in the long term if we cannot economically enter the intensive care unit.
WORLD Isn’t Markus Söder the man of the moment? The FDP no longer appears in the polls in Bavaria. What does that mean for your voters there?
Teuteberg These crises are hours of the executive power, which also gets a vote of confidence in the polls. That applies to all federal states, as well as the federal government, and I do not distribute ratings there. I work with it.
WORLD Like then
Teuteberg By not trying to give the impression that he was ruling. Because decisions are currently made in 16plus1 format between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. Our task is to demand that the necessary measures are taken to ensure that freedom does not give way to arbitrariness and that parliamentary control takes place. And we are preparing to help deal with the consequences of these decisions, because it will take years and the ideas and plans must be developed now.
WORLD Will the opposition no longer be involved in these reigns?
Teuteberg Without an opposition of thought and warning, this relaxation would not have happened. We have already achieved a lot in the negotiations on the Infection Protection Law: for civil rights, by opposing the planned reading of mobile data and now looking for voluntary, innovative and data protection-compliant solutions, and by the separation of powers through the limitation of the law and the decision of the Bundestag in the hands of the government.
Ongoing improvements and parliamentary scrutiny are needed and we request them, as well as support proportionate measures. Some defame it as impatience.
WORLD How do you perceive the disenchantment of the Greens at this time?
Teuteberg Corona puts issues of economic existence on the agenda, and that deprives some offers of political competition.
WORLD Recently, the FDP fell about five percent in the polls. Does it cost you nerves?
Teuteberg No But I am interested to see that the CDU’s thesis that one cannot get AfD voters back has been disproved. It owes the CDU’s new strength to the difficult order it is returning to AfD voters. I am curious to know if and how the CDU will learn from it.
WORLD What are your conclusions for the course of your party?
Teuteberg None. Our course does not depend on surveys or the positioning of competitors. We are targeting people who want a constitutional state that is as liberal as it is capable of acting. Who adheres to the principle of proportionality in times of need. And he fulfills his core tasks, such as disaster protection, without getting bogged down in arrogance, wanting to be the best entrepreneur or censor of private lifestyles. Adhering to the rules as a government is particularly important in times of crisis. That distinguishes democracies from arbitrariness.
WORLD Why can’t the FDP pass the freedom debates that are currently underway?
Teuteberg The fine line is between a warning voice and a request to ignore the necessary rules. It is better not to be misunderstood, even if this affects the volume.
WORLD Criticism of the FDP by friends of the FDP on social media hits the party leader and you too. Are you looking at this or are you ignoring it?
Teuteberg We both know that we will soon be more effective in our daily confrontation. In terms of economic policy, signs point to a storm, and experienced pilots are needed rather than post-growth romanticism.
WORLD That also sounds, please forgive me, a little cliche. What does that mean specifically?
Teuteberg We are doing what is now. And if we approve it, we are happy, and if not, our issues and demands are still correct. Applause is not the only criterion for correct conviction. In retrospect, urgent medical coping will be much shorter than economic recovery. We have to prepare for that now. Exit is one thing, rebuilding is probably a task of years and not a sure success.
WORLD What does the FDP want from an economic and fiscal perspective? Tax cuts? How do you feel about wealth tax? How to stimulate the programs? Should climate targets be suspended?
Teuteberg How much space do I get for the answer? Our document on what has to happen in Europe now occupies several pages. Because many things must happen to cushion the crisis and then generate a return.
This includes relief such as the complete abolition of the soli, a corporate tax reform, and short-term tax refunds for quick liquidity for small and medium-sized businesses. We need a recovery program to get out of the economic recession after opening. Then we have to reduce the new debt consistently and quickly. We are only prepared for the next crisis if we have a solid budget and competition policy.
When it comes to climate protection, we continue to rely on the innovative strength of competition. Wealth tax is a wrong proposition at the wrong time. Citizens and businesses currently consume savings and capital. Reserves need to be rebuilt: new substance is needed instead of substance tax. We also need private investments. Only through cost discipline and a strong economy can the state get out of debt.
WORLD What could the FDP do better?
Teuteberg There are many things that already exist and can be presented with more confidence in the reconstruction that is now pending. The real challenges are still ahead. We may be at the tipping point, but the path to the old fortress will remain difficult and impossible without competition in economic and financial policy. The 155 billion drinks from the pulp will still be difficult to digest.
WORLD In the Justemilieu there is a new anti-liberal sound that has wanted to bring FDPler and AfDler together from the shame of Erfurt. How do you handle it?
Teuteberg The trimmed curd flares, it is not strong. We cannot allow false debates to prevail.
WORLD Was the no to Jamaica and the shame in Erfurt a double blow that you can no longer correct until the Bundestag elections?
Teuteberg The crisis of the crown shuffled the cards for everyone. As I said, the difficult times of reconstruction are coming, it will be a time of brave concepts for the future and leaves no room to look at the navel and the spilled milk.
WORLD What does that mean specifically?
Teuteberg That will not be shown today, but in a few months, how Germany will overcome the crisis. Answers are needed to secure livelihoods, and more practical concepts such as our proposal to guarantee tax refunds as fast and bureaucratic as they suit user needs will be heard. And it is better to be implemented.
WORLD Why is the FDP no longer concerned with education?
Teuteberg We do that Especially in the countries where it is decided. We have campaigned more intensely for digitization in education than others would like, who prefer not to break new ground and only now recognize the need. The need for a timely debate on an openness strategy is also a matter of educational equality for me: education as a tool for a self-determined life and as part of the promise of progress in our social market economy is so important that we cannot accept it. Especially children who don’t stand on the sunny side of life, leaving behind due to permanent class loss. The fact that the prerequisites for this have not yet been created in the past few weeks demonstrates the need for debate.
WORLD No one would come to the FDP when it comes to educational skills. Or are we missing something here?
Teuteberg Yes, for example, our educational policy in the countries. In the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, we appoint Yvonne Gebauer as Minister of Education, and we also influence educational policy in the other state governments with the participation of the FDP.
WORLD So everything is fine with you?
Teuteberg We are not circling around ourselves. The coming months will not be easy for anyone in Germany. We take free Democrats very seriously. We are working to recognize our country after this crisis as an open society, a liberal constitutional state and a social market economy.
