Party conference: FDP joins forces for state elections next year

The party, which wants to become the most modern in the country, is struggling: first of all with technical problems. “The app doesn’t open, reports support,” says one of the participants. “So the technology continues to fight,” says another participant. "We don't see you, but I hear something rustling." “Yes, digitalization with all its opportunities and risks,” summarizes another.

The FDP is having a problem with this digital party conference. And the mood doesn't really set in as usual when delegates tune in from the living room.

Party leader Wolfgang Kubicki tries to be optimistic, but does not find his usual rhetorical strength: "We have crucial elections ahead of us next year, in Schleswig-Holstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, in Saarland, in Bremen and in Lower Saxony and I am sure we will all document next year that the Free Democrats are back."

Membership fees should be increased

The FDP relies primarily on Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia. Whether she passes the five percent hurdle or fails, as she did in all state elections this year - according to the surveys, it will be tight. So there's a lot at stake, as Federal Treasurer Michael Link, the man for money, also knows.

“We now need maximum energy for this, politically, organizationally, but also financially,” says Link. The FDP wants to get its members' money and that's what this party conference is all about. The FDP, which is hardly represented in parliament any more, lacks state party funding. And that in times of rising prices.

The delegates therefore vote to slightly increase membership fees. With more money into a new future? “We want to make the FDP the most modern party in Germany,” says Svenja Hahn, the deputy federal chairwoman, one of the last members of the FDP with a mandate in the European Parliament.

Young people urgently wanted

Professional politicians like her are becoming rarer in the FDP, which is why they are now relying on volunteers. “We have to support these people, we have to support you - and not make life difficult with unnecessarily complicated processes,” emphasizes Hahn.

More transparency, promoting young talent, new digital structures, participation formats and a culture of engagement, all of this is to come. However, the FDP does not want to make dual leadership, as other parties have long had, possible. The corresponding application fails.

“Out on the streets, towards the people”

The FDP is reforming itself tentatively. Is it enough? Party leader Wolfgang Kubicki says: must. “The Free Democrats have to go back into parliament,” said Kubicki. Also as a counterweight to the current government and as a counterweight to the "extreme forces in the country," says Kubicki, and therefore: "Get to work, then get out on the streets, to the people, to convince them that it is their life, their freedom, that we are fighting for."

The FDP has to fight. Also about your own survival. The upcoming state elections next year, it seems, are their last chance.