Seven weeks before the Bundestag elections, leading politicians in the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) say they want to rule the country in a coalition with Germany’s conservative parties.
FDP politician Agnes-Marie Strack-Zimmermann told the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag that the FDP and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) share “a vast common ground” and a government of those parties would be a “very successful combination.”
Her comments come after FDP leader Christian Lindner, in an interview with dpa, appealed to CDU leadership to commit to a coalition with the FDP.
The Bundestag or lower house of parliament election is on February 23.
Strack-Zimmermann suggested the FDP-CDU/CSU mix would be good for the security and economic policy challenges facing Germany.
But, she noted, “everyone goes into the ring for themselves.” Strack-Zimmermann is a defence expert who belongs to the FDP’s executive committee and is a member of the European Parliament.
The comments come ahead of the FDP’s tradition Ephiphany meeting on Monday, which takes place in Stuttgart.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr also promoted an FDP coalition with the CDU/CSU.
“I acknowledge that the CDU has renewed itself after the [former chancellor Angela] Merkel era and now represents many free market positions, for example on the topic of tax cuts,” Dürr told the Funke media group’s newspapers. “I could well imagine cooperation with the Union,” he emphasized.
