FDP head Lindner calls for “reasonable energy policy”

The Free Democrats’ (FDP) leader, Christian Lindner, has said his party will strive for “a reasonable energy policy” if it is going to be part of Germany’s next government. The economic liberal FDP could become part of a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the environmentalist Green Party, dubbed the ‘Jamaica’ coalition because the three parties’ colours - black (CDU/CSU), yellow (FDP), and green (Greens) – match those of the Caribbean country’s flag. The FDP would be “ready to talk about how this goal can be achieved. But the goal itself is non-negotiable”, Lindner said in an interview with Welt Online. He said the FDP “will only enter a coalition if there’s a turnaround in German politics”, but would otherwise join the opposition. The FDP head argued that the Green Party needed to resolve an internal dispute between its centrist and left-leaning members before any serious coalition talks can start, adding that “I’d welcome if those Greens in favour of political realism gained the upper hand”.

Find the article in German here (behind paywall).

See the CLEW factsheets Climate & energy stumbling blocks for Jamaica-coalition talks and The long road to a new government coalition in Germany for background.