Germany’s Free Democrats have become desperate spoilers

Like smallFDPFDPFDP EU FDP nations (think of Bosnia or Kuwait), pipsqueak political parties can generate outsize effects. Consider Germany’s Free Democratic Party (). The smallest of three partners in the coalition that has ruled the country since 2021, it holds just four cabinet posts, out of 17. The pro-business party is weaker still at the local level, serving in just two of the 16 state governments, and as a junior coalition member in both of them at that. Barely one in 20 Germans currently says they would vote for it in a national election. Yet this very fragility has made the increasingly desperate to fire up its base.That makes it dangerous. In domestic politics the party now constantly snipes at its coalition allies and flirts with the opposition, making an already unpopular government even more so. In Brussels, meanwhile, grandstanding has helped gum up legislation on issues from vehicle emissions to supply-chain rules to the protection of nature. The actual damage that has been caused has, so far, been limited, except perhaps to the mental health of thwarted Eurocrats and to Germany’s reputation as a force for moderation. But as the spring budget-making season in Berlin heats up, and as European elections approach in June (followed by a trio of tight German state elections in September), the temptation for the to undermine its coalition partners and sabotage European unity will only increase.