Now FDP boss Lindner has to be measured by his own sentence

When the FDP flew directly from the government bench out of the German Bundestag in 2013, many were overjoyed. The Mövenpick party is obsolete anyway, said those who had never voted for the Liberals anyway. The voters, who had hoped for more than bickering from the black-yellow coalition and had expected the nuclear phase-out, remained disappointed. And times were different: no corona, no war, no energy crisis. The struggle for freedom was not nearly as visible as it is today.

Nine years later, the FDP was kicked out of a parliament again, this time from the Lower Saxony state parliament. The glee from the left is more restrained than it was then, but advice is piling up as to what the FDP should do now – including at the federal level. On the one hand, it says that the FDP is too concerned with the AfD when it comes to corona policy. Others believe that the party can only survive if it becomes sustainable - and finally agrees to a speed limit.

Of course, the FDP found itself in a difficult position in the traffic light coalition: it is too small to push through the political projects for which it was elected. And it's big enough to block projects by the left-wing coalition partners SPD and the Greens, thereby arousing the anger of many.

But if the FDP wants to be able to survive, it must do what it indicated before the general election. "There was never more to do," emblazoned on the election posters at the time. Since then, the Liberals have blocked much that is certainly often necessary, hemmed in by the Reds and the Greens. But the FDP must finally do more: For example, it should advertise louder and more confidently for the end of the corona measures or stand up for the continued operation of the nuclear power plants.

When the so-called coalition for the future was sealed almost a year ago, the three parties were able to focus on their lowest common denominator: socio-political issues such as the legalization of cannabis or the abolition of paragraph 218a. Many capital journalists cheered.

In a long-term report, ARD hastily attested to a new political style for young traffic light politicians. This unfamiliar kind of approval for the FDP almost turned into ecstasy with the relief package (yes, the one with the tank discount and 9-euro ticket). But since the 9-euro ticket was not extended because of the FDP, media perception is the same as before the election.

Instead of hoping that a handful of journalists from the capital will once again write semi-original portraits of the “new” FDP, the party's first and second rows must free themselves from the fear of a media headwind. It is now about something much bigger than the symbolic speed limit or half-baked compromises such as "tank discount for a 9-euro ticket".

The FDP is now responsible for securing the country's energy supply. To do this, she must assert herself against the Greens and their completely irrational party congress decision from the weekend (only two nuclear power plants may continue to operate until April 2023) and insist on the continued operation of the last three reactors until 2024.

And if the Greens should prevail, FDP leader Christian Lindner could now show what it means to not govern rather than to govern incorrectly.