Wolfgang Kubicki has defended his candidacy for the FDP party chairmanship against criticism from within the party. Responding to remarks by FDP MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Kubicki told the “Tagesspiegel”, “It’s better to have an old warhorse than a lame show pony”. He declared his intention to revitalize the FDP.
The 74-year-old stated, “I have been an FDP member for 56 years, and I couldn’t bear to watch the party fall apart. I want to do everything to prevent that”. While acknowledging that his age means he does not represent a new beginning for the FDP, Kubicki emphasized, “I am not the future of the FDP, but I want my party to have a future at all”.
The former Bundestag Deputy President explained that many people pressured him into running for office. He credited Christian Lindner for giving him the final push on Thursday. According to Kubicki, the former FDP chairman told him that the party was at its end unless he took over. Kubicki responded by teasing him, saying, “I told him he was a funny little man. He now deserves good money in the private sector and pushes a stroller through the park”.
However, Kubicki conceded that Lindner was correct: “Someone has to pull the carriage out of the mess right now”. His primary goal is to lift the party back above the five percent threshold. For this, Kubicki has given himself a one-year deadline. “At the FDP executive board elections in May 2027, we will have another chance. If we are not successful by then, then it will be definitively over for me”.
According to a poll conducted by the dts news agency on Monday, several members support Kubicki’s candidacy. While Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann publicly spoke out in favor of Henning Höne, the leader of the North Rhine-Westphalia state chapter-who also intends to run for party leader at the FDP’s federal party conference at the end of May-no one else from the FDP executive board commented on the dts request.
