Former FDP politician Ingrid Matthäus-Maier clearly criticized the party's behavior surrounding the break in the traffic light government. “Of course you try to clear yourself of the accusation of underhandedness,” said Matthäus-Maier Editorial Network Germany (RND). The “D-Day Affair” shows “very clearly” the “deviousness” of the party leadership. For her, this is even worse than the choice of words, which was widely criticized.
That Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) Lindner's accusation of breach of trust was therefore understandable, said Matthäus-Meier. “And it’s really cheeky how Lindner is now portraying himself as an innocent lamb.”
Matthäus-Maier was a member of the FDP in the German Bundestag from 1976 to 1983 and also worked there as chairman of the finance committee. Like dying FDP In 1982, when he left the coalition with the SPD under Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and instead formed a coalition with the new Chancellor Helmut Kohl (CDU), Matthäus-Maier left the party and joined the SPD.
The situations in 1982 and today are comparable, she told the RND, especially in relation to the behavior of the FDP. The then party leader Hans-Dietrich Genscher also tried to end the coalition behind the Chancellor's back – and at that time too there was an FDP paper on economic policy and the claim that a budget could not be reached with the SPD.
“It was all stupid stuff. The FDP had bad election results and wanted out because they thought it could save them. It’s like that again today,” said Matthäus-Maier. The change in 1982 damaged the FDP's reputation for years. Then as now, the FDP should not have provided any evidence for the accusation of lack of character, said Matthäus-Maier. After joining the SPD, she became deputy leader of its parliamentary group. She later moved to the top of KfW Bank – a position from which she resigned in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
