"Germany's prosperity threatens to drop to 1970 levels"

Advice has been raining down on the FDP since it suffered dramatic defeats in all four state elections in 2022. Some recommend a social-liberal renaissance, others see the FDP as a better AfD. Henning Höne has another strategy in mind. The young head of the FDP parliamentary group believes he has found a route to a better future. First for the country. But also for the FDP.

WORLD: Mr. Höne, scientists like Andreas Rödder, who is close to the CDU, advise the FDP to address the “right middle class” more in order to win voters.

Henning Höne: Oh yes, the discussion is at least ten years old.

WORLD: The red-green political scientist Franz Walter also recommended this to you in 2010.

Höne: What is striking is that such advice almost always comes from people who would never vote for the FDP.

WORLD: But in the elections in Lower Saxony and NRW, the FDP lost more votes to the CDU and - in Lower Saxony - AfD than to the SPD and the Greens.

Höne: The election results are not always so clear. In the 2017 election in North Rhine-Westphalia, we won far more from the SPD than from the CDU.

WORLD: So no legal course with you?

Höne: What makes us unique is our positioning at right angles to the outdated left-right scheme. We Free Democrats combine an optimistic life-and-let-live attitude with the promise of a functioning state and a commitment to the social market economy.

WORLD: Recently, the FDP in the Bundestag called for the Greens to agree to the legalization of surrogacy and multiple parenthood. Is that the way of life you mean?

Höne: Not that, but that raises several complex questions. I understand the party friends' motives. But I reject surrogacy as a business model, it is too little thought of the child and too much of the parents' desire to have children.

WORLD: What do you mean by an optimistic attitude and a functioning state?

Höne: Here in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, we set an example in immigration policy by 2022. With Joachim Stamp as Minister for Integration, we fully exploited the legal framework to deport dangerous and serious criminals more consistently than under the Red-Green regime. At the same time, we fought to grant well-integrated immigrants a permanent right of residence more quickly than the CDU liked.

WORLD: The FDP is currently hardly considered a guarantor of a flourishing economy. Are your economic policy positions still good enough to appeal to voters?

Höne: More than ever! Concern about location attractiveness and competitiveness is one of the really big questions of the time.

WORLD: How credible is it if you reject record debts while party colleague Lindner is taking on record debts as Federal Minister of Finance?

Höne: Firstly, the 100 billion euros in debt to strengthen the Bundeswehr are necessary to protect our freedom. On the other hand: The FDP is part of a coalition in the federal government, so it cannot enforce FDP purely on its own.

WORLD: But you can do that. What do you think is the Liberals’ topic?

Höne: Germany's prosperity threatens to drop to the level of 1970. In the face of a completely imploding energy transition, we have to ask ourselves: In ten years, will there still be someone who will produce here and sell their product internationally? We must answer that.

WORLD: And how?

Höne: First of all, you have to understand the seriousness of the situation: a number of companies, from Lanxess to BASF, say they are currently investing everywhere but in Germany. Many observers warn that our country could soon be carbon neutral but poor.

WORLD: This realization is part of the solution?

Höne: It's a first step, because there's a kind of arrogance and self-satisfaction in this country that ignores these dangers.

WORLD: The dangers of the energy transition?

Höne: We filled up all energy sources except for Russian gas - and that was turned off for us. The situation in NRW, the most energy-intensive German location, is particularly dramatic in view of the energy prices. The German business model is under massive pressure.

WORLD: Do you actually want to suspend the energy transition?

Höne: No, but we have to temporarily use every available domestic energy source.

WORLD: Also the fracking with deep drilling and use of chemicals that is forbidden here?

Höne: That too. We are currently importing shale gas from the USA and paying much more for it than we would spend if we were producing it ourselves. We also have to extend pipelines to the Benelux countries so that we can get gas from there. And: We must not stick to the 2030 phase-out date for lignite at any price.

WORLD: Even if that were decided, it could hardly help in the short term.

Höne: In the medium term, yes! And in the short term it would be an extremely important message for the future of the site.

WORLD: Namely?

Höne: We want to remain an industrial country and a productive location! This signal would keep us investing.

WORLD: However, the federal government and the FDP are eagerly buying fracking gas, coal and nuclear power abroad. Domestic nuclear energy is only permitted for months, fracking is not an issue.

Höne: The FDP would like to do otherwise if they could decide this on their own. The citizens know that.

WORLD: You could use the traffic light as an opportunity for a social-liberal turn. The old liberal Gerhart Baum advises the FDP to take up "the unequal distribution of wealth in the country".

Höne: The issue of wealth distribution is almost always discussed from a wrong, ultimately envious perspective. After all, it can't be about taking as much as possible away from those who have built something up.

WORLD: But?

Höne: Those who have little should be able to get more.

WORLD: Where does it come from if it doesn't come from the richest?

Höne: Among other things, through location-friendly policies that increase prosperity and enlarge the pie overall, instead of scolding those who have the bigger piece of the pie.

WORLD: Then those who get little of the cake still don't automatically have more.

Höne: They get more if their promotion is made easier. That is why school policy is so central to us in NRW: Classes must be smaller, the number of teachers and social workers must continue to increase in order to open up opportunities for the disadvantaged.

WORLD: Large fortunes are currently mostly inherited, not earned. Is it performance-based when people don't work and are still rich because their inheritance yields so much? That's what Baum asks.

Höne: Somebody worked out the inheritance and paid taxes. Then it is also fair if the person inherits it from their children. Interestingly, there are also some in the libertarian current who would agree with Mr. Baum. Some libertarians are even calling for a 100 percent inheritance tax.

WORLD: Do you deal with ideas of the radical liberal libertarian movement?

Höne: Yes, libertarians also belong to the liberal movement in a broader sense. However, there are also clear differences. We Free Democrats question state action and want to minimize interventions, some libertarians question the state entirely.

WORLD: Are taxes, as libertarians say, ultimately theft?

Hoene: No. But dealing with such positions is inspiring. After all, such a slogan reminds us that the state takes what others have owned and worked for. This is a reminder to use tax money as sparingly as possible.