The conflict between the leadership of the Hamburg FDP and four young liberals (JuLis), which has been going on publicly for a year, seems to be over. On the advice of the party’s arbitration tribunal, the brawlers concluded a settlement at a conciliation meeting, as the Elbe Liberals announced on Tuesday on their website. The handshake is essentially based on the fact that the state executive and the JuLis accuse each other of “no party-damaging behavior” anymore. Both sides have thus averted proceedings before the arbitral tribunal.
The dispute was sparked off in spring 2022 by the announcement by state head Michael Kruse that he wanted to take legal action against the Hamburg hotspot rule to contain the corona pandemic. The former JuLi boss Carl Cevin-Key Coste then described the project as a “PR campaign and unworthy of a constitutional party”. What began with a substantive criticism of the Corona and later also the Ukraine line of the Elbliberals culminated in a personally hurtful exchange of blows.
After various verbal accusations by and against Coste and three other JuLis, the board of directors launched a party exclusion procedure against the critics, but withdrew the decision a little later. The four JuLis nevertheless resisted and responded with a lawsuit before the party’s arbitral tribunal – supported by the social-liberal veteran Gerhart Baum.
The comparison that has now been made before the arbitral tribunal also means that both sides “regret the public impression of internal party differences”. Also, “further cooperation takes place, taking into account public perception on the basis of the goals and principles of the common liberal party”.
The state board wanted to send the result of the quality appointment “in a separate email to all members of the state association” on Tuesday, as the statement on the FDP Hamburg website says. The costs of the proceedings are offset against each other. Furthermore, the state board and the four JuLis have committed themselves not to comment further publicly on the arbitration proceedings and the underlying dispute.
When asked by WELT, both sides did not want to comment on the extent to which the agreement was related to Kruse’s announced resignation as state chairman. After all, the tablecloth was said to have been cut, especially between Kruse and Coste. At the end of February, the incumbent head of state declared that he did not want to run for the post again. The regular board elections of the Hamburg FDP take place on the first weekend in April.
It therefore remains to be seen whether the chronically quarreling Elbe Liberals will actually come to rest. Between 1993 and 2014 alone they wore out 13 state chairmen, garnished with open trench warfare full of vanity, resentment and intrigues. Kruse took over the office from Katja Suding in 2021. He justified his withdrawal from the state presidency by saying that his Bundestag mandate requires a high level of attention. Kruse has been in the Bundestag since 2021, where he acts as energy policy spokesman for his parliamentary group.
Beate Schlueter would like to succeed him at the head of the Hanseatic FDP. The head of the Hamburg stock exchange supervisory authority was the first to declare her candidacy. The current state executive would also like to enter the race for the party chairmanship with a proposal in the coming days.
The task will remain a challenge between bringing peace to the state association, which currently has 2125 members, and going to the polls. Because while the Liberals co-govern in the federal government, they are only represented in the Hamburg Parliament by two non-attached MPs. The entry into the state parliament failed in 2020. The next state election is scheduled for 2025, the district elections a year earlier.
