Düsseldorf/Hannover (dpa/lnw) - After the FDP failed to re-enter the Lower Saxony state parliament, the liberals in North Rhine-Westphalia are also questioning the role of the federal government in the debacle. "Our voters are strangers to the traffic light," said Henning Höne, leader of the NRW state parliamentary group, after the poor performance of party friends in the state elections on Sunday. "We have to make our successes and our role even clearer. The whole party has to promote our convictions all the more actively."
The FDP had failed in Lower Saxony after a nail-biter with only 4.7 percent at the five percent hurdle. In the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia last May, the Liberals had to accept a drop from 12.6 to just 5.9 percent. The CDU then exchanged them for the Greens as a government partner in the most populous federal state.
Höne emphasized that the Free Democrats are expected to take responsibility. "And we are expected to implement liberal policies in a coalition with two left-wing parties. That's a balancing act in the traffic lights in Berlin." Now the cohesion of the party is required. "At the same time, we have to ensure stability in the federal government in times of crisis and emphasize our positions even more."
The North Rhine-Westphalia SPD, which congratulated their party friend Stephan Weil on winning the elections in Lower Saxony, also called for state responsibility. "The election has been decided. Overcoming the numerous crises must be the top priority for all political levels," warned state party leader Thomas Kutschaty.
The burden should be shared fairly and "above all the highest salaries and assets" should be used with a corresponding contribution. "An early agreement between the federal and state governments in the course of the energy aid proposed by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz offers the next opportunity for this," emphasized the SPD politician.
Höne called for ambitions for a new German economic miracle: "We need the will for the big, sometimes uncomfortable solutions in order to shape our future from here on out," recommended the FDP politician from the state association of federal party leader Christian Lindner.
