Kubicki on Merz: “I now have the feeling that it’s all just an illusion” | EUROtoday

FDP vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki has as soon as once more sharply attacked the management of the Union and SPD and is questioning their management abilities. Kubicki says about CDU chief Friedrich Merz that he believed in his skills for a very long time – however now has doubts: “I now have the feeling that it’s all just a fake,” mentioned Kubicki in “Bild am Sonntag”. Merz gave “wonderful speeches,” however “the practical politics the next day are the exact opposite.” That causes frustration: “It also drives people crazy.”

His judgment of SPD chief and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil is even harsher. “Lars Klingbeil is a funny guy, can give good speeches and, above all, play a small ukulele.” But when requested about his financial coverage competence, Kubicki solutions curtly: “Zero.” It is problematic to place somebody with out the related expertise on the head of the finance division: proclaiming somebody “who has never made financial policy before as the greatest of all finance ministers” is inappropriate.

Kubicki names financial growth in Germany as the federal government’s largest development website. “The most pressing problem is the loss of wealth,” he mentioned. Between 120,000 and 150,000 industrial jobs are misplaced yearly, and on the identical time the nation is experiencing “the highest wave of insolvencies in a long time”. For Kubicki, that is an expression of a failed coverage: While tax burdens are rising and new money owed are being taken on, there’s a lack of actual financial savings.

When requested about his “asshole” comment about Merz, Kubicki defined that in comparison with historic insults towards the Chancellor, his selection of phrases was really “something sensible”. During his time in workplace, Brandt was insulted as a “traitor” and was subjected to large private hostility, whereas Kohl was publicly pelted with eggs. But apparently, in accordance with Klingbeil, “Friedrich Merz is also very sensitive.”

In the controversy about find out how to take care of the AfD, Kubicki additionally opposes the cross-party course. He as soon as once more rejects the AfD’s “firewall”: “I only know a firewall in buildings,” he mentioned. Instead of strict isolation, he advocates a extra differentiated strategy: “I am for demarcation, not exclusion.” He considers the present line to be politically counterproductive – it “benefits the AfD rather than harms it”.

The candidacy of the 74-year-old, who desires to develop into FDP chief, brought on a stir. If elected, he’ll goal for a vote share of over ten p.c for his get together within the subsequent federal elections.

After leaving the Bundestag, the FDP “fell below the perceptibility threshold” and “is no longer even shown” in surveys, Kubicki mentioned in an interview. This touched him emotionally after greater than 50 years of get together membership. For him, that is each an incentive and an obligation: he “simply cannot stand by and watch it perish.” In phrases of content material, he sees the Liberals as nonetheless properly positioned – there’s “an incredibly good political offering” – however there’s a lack of visibility and political clout.