Former minister Lindner takes parting shot at new German government
Former German finance minister Christian Lindner bid farewell to his Free Democratic Party (FDP) on Friday with heavy criticism of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's new government.
Lindner is stepping down as chairman of the FDP after leading the pro-business party to a disastrous result in February's national election, leaving it without a seat in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament.
At a party conference in the German capital, where his successor is due to be elected, Lindner said the "majority of voters voted for less state and more freedom. What is now being delivered is more state and more debt."
"If the Merz government does not flank this new fiscal policy with reforms, then this decision on direction will first come back like a boomerang in economic terms and then at the ballot box in 2029," he added.
The former finance minister took a parting shot at Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in his speech, saying: "I find it difficult to make quick changes to my basic political convictions. There are many in the CDU who have more talent for this than we do."
Lindner was fired as finance minister in November, leading the FDP to withdraw from former chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition, triggering the early election.
Christian Dürr, the party's former parliamentary leader, is due to replace Lindner as FDP chairman in a vote later on Friday.
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