"It will be a difficult path": Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger on the FDP's exit and the consequences

Merkur "It will be a difficult path": Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger on the FDP's exit and the consequences Tobias Gmach • 20 hours • 4 minutes reading time Interview The former Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger is calling for an "innovative departure" after the FDP's exit from the Bundestag. She would like to see a broader range of topics at the top. Feldafing - These are moving and sad days for Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. On Tuesday, the 73-year-old gave the eulogy for the late former Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhart Baum, a companion and friend. Nevertheless, the former Federal Minister of Justice, who lives in Feldafing, took time out a few hours beforehand to speak to the Starnberger Merkur about her FDP's exit from the Bundestag. When the Liberals failed to clear the five percent hurdle in 2013, Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger had 7.3 percent of the vote as a direct candidate in the Starnberg constituency, a traditional FDP stronghold. Last Sunday, the FDP received 3.6 percent of the first and 5.8 percent of the second votes in the constituency. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger is still politically active, she sits on the Starnberg district council and is involved in the politically liberal Friedrich Naumann Foundation. She resigned from her position as anti-Semitism commissioner for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where she was born and grew up, in autumn 2024 after six years. Ms. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, where did you spend election night? And what did you think of the first projection? At the federal FDP in the Hans-Dietrich-Genscher-Haus in Berlin. When the first bar came from ARD, I was trembling, it was 4.9. When the second bar came from ZDF, 5.0, I was happy. In the end, the result was 4.3, a truly shocking result. At first there was incredible tension, then incredible disappointment. But I was impressed by the fact that many people immediately said: there is no giving up. What do you think are the reasons for this? And what mistakes did the FDP make? First of all, it was due to the poor cooperation and poor external image of the traffic light coalition. In the end, people no longer believed it could do anything, and this had a particularly strong impact on the FDP. The willingness of all three parties to overcome reservations and antipathies, to put their own egos aside, was too low. The FDP was not perceived as a holistic liberal party. The focus on a few economic issues and the resulting lack of differentiation from the Union, I think, led many voters to say to themselves: it would be better to vote for the Union in a safe way. The polls were mostly below five percent. That was a lead bullet. In addition, there were some frustrated voters who switched to the AfD and BSW. So too much economic liberalism instead of general liberalism? Economic liberalism is very important, especially in today's times with problems that lead to fears and existential hardships among citizens. But that doesn't mean that there aren't other important issues: the rule of law, the fight against disinformation, extremism and anti-Semitism. These are indispensable parts of liberalism. We need this holistic approach. How do you explain the poor performance among young voters? An innovative departure, formulating a vision of the future with the use of technology, with media skills and with education, was not successful in this election campaign. In addition, young people in particular cannot do much with the debt brake, a rather technical construct. Unfortunately, quite a few young people are open to authoritarian structures - these are clearly associated with the AfD. It exploits fears. And fear, as Gerhart Baum said, is the dangerous demon that appears behind liberal democracy and that must be fought. Otherwise it will be difficult for a rational, liberal party and politics. FDP leader Christian Lindner has withdrawn from top politics. Do you see a successor? At the moment I can only see that it will not help at all if everyone makes their own personnel suggestions. We need a fresh start in the FDP, and that requires several people. I could well imagine a distribution of roles at the top: a liberal with economic expertise and a liberal with an affinity for civil rights, who belong together, complement each other and do not see each other as opponents. But I also understand that young, outstanding politicians like Johannes Vogel do not apply for the front row because they have to take care of their families and a job first.