Wolfgang Kubicki: FDP "disgracefully" voted out of the Bundestag - discussion about Corona statements

Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Wolfgang Kubicki: FDP "disgracefully" voted out of the Bundestag - discussion about Corona statements Christine Meyer • 12 hours • 3 minutes reading time Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy FDP party chairman and Bundestag vice president, will attend the last FDP parliamentary group meeting in the Bundestag on February 26th. Withdrawal or withdrawal from withdrawal? The course of FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki has been unclear in recent days. After the FDP's defeat in the Bundestag election, the 72-year-old initially announced on Sunday evening that he wanted to leave politics. On Monday (February 24th), Kubicki then rowed back, or rather: he took the offensive. After Christian Lindner resigned from the party chairmanship, he spoke out again and said he was thinking about taking over. On Wednesday evening, Kubicki then shared his thoughts with the TV audience. Kubicki: FDP "disgracefully" voted out of the Bundestag During Markus Lanz's ZDF talk show, Kubicki first explained how hard it had been for him to leave parliament after 35 years. Alcohol was also consumed, and the next morning he had to nurse his hangover and grieve. He had imagined his exit from parliament differently. Until the very end, he could not have imagined that the FDP would be voted out "so disgracefully". Kubicki believes that the resurgent left is to blame for this, which created the image of the FDP as the enemy after the Liberals voted together with the AfD. Lanz took up the point and wanted to know whether Kubicki did not want to leave politics "of his own volition". He was not "falling into the abyss" because he had his own law firm, said Kubicki. But many former MPs now have to think seriously about it. Wolfgang Kubicki: "I am not the future of the party" Christian Lindner announced his resignation on election night. He himself was also "subjectively out" at that time, Kubicki explained on Lanz. However, he subsequently received several hundred messages telling him to continue, otherwise the party would fall apart. So he thought about his decision again on Monday. By Wednesday evening he had still not come to a decision. "The process is not yet complete," said Kubicki. His popularity within and outside the party, his fame and experience speak in his favor. "You don't just stamp out new personnel from scratch," he emphasized on Lanz. A structure is necessary to keep the party viable. "I know myself that I am not the future of the party," said Kubicki. But that also applies to executive committee member Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who is also being considered as a possible candidate for the chairmanship. "The decisive factor is that they can moderate a transition that keeps the party alive." He believes he can do that, but so does Strack-Zimmermann. The FDP clearly missed out on entering the Bundestag with 4.3 percent. Several younger top liberals such as Johannes Vogel and Konstantin Kuhle declared that they would not be available to succeed Christian Lindner as chairman. Kubicki on Corona and compulsory vaccination However, Kubicki received more reactions than his statements on a possible candidacy for the party chairmanship with controversial statements on the Corona period. "During the Corona crisis, I thought a lot about the brutality with which those who did not want to be vaccinated were treated," said Kubicki. These people were excluded, they were treated like "pariahs". This triggered the feeling, especially in the East, that the state had become intrusive. This led to a division in society and provided fertile ground for the AfD. Now the CDU/CSU and SPD have a duty to act quickly, warns the FDP politician. Whatever one's opinion of the statement, Kubicki does not mention that the FDP was part of the government until November 2024. Nor does he mention that the FDP parliamentary group agreed to a facility-related vaccination requirement in December 2021. (with dpa)