Please support THE CITIZEN'S VOICE with a donation HERE!
|
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
| Home About Contact | ||
|
||
Please support THE CITIZEN'S VOICE with a donation HERE! |
||
From Euphoric Promises to Disillusioning Reality 2026 – Analysis of Guido Kosmehl’s (FDP) Speech on 16 September 2021 in the Saxony-Anhalt State ParliamentGuido Kosmehl’s speech in the Saxony-Anhalt State Parliament on 16 September 2021 marked a moment of political euphoria for the FDP, which triumphantly returned to the state parliament after ten years of absence. As the newly elected parliamentary group leader, Kosmehl celebrated the strengthening of the “parties of the centre” through the voters’ decision of 6 June 2021 and announced a constructive coalition with the CDU and SPD to make Saxony-Anhalt “strong, modern, crisis-proof and just”. He polemicised against DIE LINKE and the AfD, emphasised tax relief measures and promised not to shy away from parliamentary debates. Five years later, on 25 February 2026, these statements appear naïve in retrospect, if not downright cynical. Reality has unmasked Kosmehl’s narrative: Instead of a strengthened centre, the AfD has gained ground, the FDP has plummeted far below 5 percent, tax promises have been implemented only half-heartedly, and the coalition is lagging behind its own goals. A sharp critique of Kosmehl’s rhetoric reveals not only misjudgements but also a systematic ignorance of structural problems that have since intensified. First, on the election analysis: Kosmehl jubilated that the voters had “made the fringes smaller, although in my view the right-wing fringe not small enough”, and strengthened the centre – CDU, SPD and FDP. This was already a selective reading in 2021: The AfD achieved 20.8 percent in the state election, behind the CDU (37.1 percent), and remained the second strongest force. Kosmehl downplayed this as a success of democracy. Today, in 2026, this assessment seems ridiculous. Current polls for the upcoming state election on 6 September 2026 show the AfD at 39 percent – a gain of almost 18 percentage points since 2021 – and thus clearly as the strongest force. The CDU is at 26 percent, SPD at 8 percent, FDP at a meagre 2 to 3 percent and is threatening to slip out of the state parliament. The “fringes” have not become smaller, but more dominant; the AfD is even aiming for an absolute majority. Kosmehl’s misjudgement ignores the deeper causes: Growing frustration in East Germany due to economic stagnation, social inequality and lack of integration. Instead of addressing this, he celebrated an alleged stabilisation that has proven to be an illusion. The coalition has failed to counteract these dynamics. Closely related is Kosmehl’s polemic against DIE LINKE. He accused the party of impatience, of conducting election campaigning and stirring up fear of the 5-percent hurdle instead of convincing with its own ideas. He mocked their attempts to stir up a “Wessi-Ossi debate” or “poor/rich” polarisation. Here Kosmehl hits a sore spot: In the 2021 federal election, DIE LINKE actually failed with 4.9 percent at the hurdle (although it entered via direct mandates). But in 2026 the tide has turned. In the 2025 federal election, DIE LINKE achieved 8.8 percent and 64 seats – a comeback based on growing dissatisfaction with neoliberal policies that Kosmehl represents. His criticism of the Left as “fearmongers” rings hollow today: It was precisely the FDP, which failed with 4.3 percent at the hurdle in 2025 and was thrown out of the Bundestag, that underestimated its own vulnerability. Kosmehl’s ideology – “It is not the time for tax increases, it is the time for relief” – has not reduced inequality but deepened it. On tax policy itself: Kosmehl praised relief for low and middle incomes as a matter of justice and criticised “bracket creep”, where wage increases are eaten up by inflation and tax brackets. He was right that in 2020 the top tax rate already kicked in at 1.5 times the average wage – a relic from the 1970s. The FDP campaigned for this at federal level, and by 2026 adjustments were implemented: The basic tax-free allowance gradually rose to over €11,700, tax thresholds were shifted, totalling €23 billion in relief by 2026. Yet this is a Pyrrhic victory. The traffic-light coalition (SPD, Greens, FDP), which Kosmehl indirectly saw as a model, collapsed in 2023/2024 after budget disputes, leading to new elections in 2025. The relief measures came late and incompletely, often only as compromises with SPD and Greens. In Saxony-Anhalt the effect remained limited: The economy is stagnating, bracket creep has not been fully abolished, and low incomes hardly feel the relief amid rising living costs. Kosmehl’s rhetoric of “justice” turns out to be an empty shell – real redistribution is absent, while the wealthy continue to benefit. A central coalition promise was the special corona fund, which Kosmehl praised as an “effective restart of the economy” and promotion of digitalisation. In 2021 the coalition agreed on a volume of around €2 billion for 63 measures to cushion pandemic-related burdens. By 2026, however, implementation is a fiasco: Only 47 percent of the funds had been disbursed by the end of 2025, due to bureaucratic hurdles, skilled labour shortages and slow procurement procedures. The state government extended the “extraordinary emergency situation” until 2026 to circumvent the debt brake – a practice the opposition criticises as window dressing. Kosmehl’s claim that this is essential for crisis resilience seems cynical: The special fund serves less to combat the pandemic (which is long over in 2026) than to finance ongoing projects such as museum digitalisation or health infrastructure. The coalition has failed to implement priorities efficiently and is burdening future budgets with repayments from 2029. Finally, Kosmehl’s assurance of parliamentary openness: He promised not to “shy away from any discussion” and to defend minority rights, but warned the AfD against abuse. Yet immediately after his speech he refused a question from Ulrich Siegmund (AfD), saying “Not today”. This diametrically contradicts his own words and underscores a selective love of democracy: Discussion yes, but only with “acceptable” opponents. In a time when the AfD is growing, such behaviour precisely promotes the discrediting of parliament that Kosmehl accuses the AfD of. It is an act of arrogance that foreshadows the FDP’s isolation in 2026. In summary, Kosmehl’s speech was a textbook example of liberal hubris: euphoria over a fragile coalition, polemic against left and right that backfired, and promises that fail in reality. In 2026 Saxony-Anhalt faces a potentially right-dominated future, the coalition is fighting for relevance, and Kosmehl’s “strong, modern” state appears weaker than ever. His words were not merely optimistic, but blind to society’s fractures – a criticism that the FDP continues to pay dearly for to this day. The speech by Guido Kosmehl (FDP) on 16.09.2021 in the Saxony-Anhalt State Parliament: Guido Kosmehl (FDP): Honourable Mr President! My dear colleagues! The citizens of our state elected a new state parliament on 6 June. And in doing so, they made two decisions: First. They have elected the Free Democrats back into the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament with a parliamentary group after ten years of extra-parliamentary opposition. Or, to put it in the adapted words of Marius Müller-Westernhagen: “We’re back here, in our territory, were never really gone, just hiding.” (Applause – heckling) My dear ladies and gentlemen! We Free Democrats in Saxony-Anhalt want to do justice to the voters’ vote of confidence over the next five years and, together with our colleagues from the CDU and SPD, shape our state for the benefit of the people here in our Saxony-Anhalt. (Approval) My dear ladies and gentlemen! The voters made a second decision on 6 June. They made the fringes smaller, although in my view the right-wing fringe not small enough. (Applause) But they made the fringes smaller and strengthened the parties of the centre. After constructive but also intensive discussions, CDU, SPD and FDP have agreed on a common goal for Saxony-Anhalt and signed the coalition agreement this past Monday. The Minister President will address the content of the coalition agreement in his government statement in the next session of the state parliament and explain the details to you, dear colleagues of the opposition. That DIE LINKE cannot exercise patience has become clear with their request for today’s topical debate. Until now it has always – always! – been parliamentary practice that the Minister President gives a government statement in the session week after his election. If you need it, I have the dates. I can also read them out to you. You couldn’t stand it, and that’s why you requested this debate, and that’s why we’re talking about it today. (Interjection from Eva von Angern, DIE LINKE) – Yes, Ms von Angern, we still have plenty of time to argue with each other. – Perhaps it is less impatience to hear about the many good and forward-looking plans of the Germany coalition from the Minister President than the upcoming federal election in ten days. (Applause) You want, dear ladies and gentlemen of the LEFT, to use today’s opportunity to campaign. But, dear Ms von Angern, dear ladies and gentlemen of the LEFT: From my experience after almost 30 years of election campaigns in, for and with the FDP, I can tell you that fear of the 5% hurdle has never been a good advisor for setting topics. In the state election campaign you tried to start a Wessi-Ossi debate. It didn’t help you much. Now you are trying, with the poor/rich justification and fear of FDP government participation at federal level, to win voters for yourselves. That won’t work either, my dear ladies and gentlemen. I find it remarkable that you don’t campaign with your own ideas, with your party’s proposals, but rather want to stir up fear with other parties’ proposals to make yourselves look better. (Heckling) I will not now succumb to the temptation to explain the entire breadth of the Free Democrats’ election programme to you. But I want to pick up on one point you wrote in your justification. It concerns the possible tax relief and the burden on the state budget. In doing so, dear ladies and gentlemen, you deliberately omitted that these relief measures largely benefit low and middle incomes, and for us Free Democrats that is a question of justice. While in 1970 in the old Federal Republic someone had to earn eight times the average gross wage to pay the top tax rate, in 2020 it was only one and a half times. That can’t be right! We have to do something about that! If with every collective agreement increase, every wage increase or every additional order for a company or self-employed person the finance ministers of the federal and state governments are the first to rejoice because bracket creep kicks in, then that can’t stay that way, my dear ladies and gentlemen. (Applause) I followed the LEFT’s election programme attentively. DIE LINKE also wants to relieve certain groups, and according to your understanding that would lead to revenue shortfalls. You remain silent about that because punctually for every finance debate you dig up and ignite the smoke bomb of wealth tax again. My dear ladies and gentlemen! I consider the introduction of a wealth tax to be constitutionally impossible. That won’t stop you from perhaps ideologically pushing through such proposals if you had a majority – which hopefully we will all be spared. But Red-Red-Green has already fallen flat on its face constitutionally with some projects. I mention as examples the rent cap in Berlin and the parity law in Thuringia. Sometimes it’s better to listen to lawyers when they have constitutional concerns. My dear ladies and gentlemen! For the sake of completeness I want to mention a second point. Purely hypothetically: If you were to introduce the wealth tax, that would mean – and you know this too – that revenue would only flow into the state budget years later. What would you do in the meantime? No relief? Just wait? My dear ladies and gentlemen! For the Free Democrats one thing is clear: It is not the time for tax increases, it is the time for relief. (Applause) An important point – I am grateful to Ms Pähle for raising it – is a project of this coalition that we have agreed on, namely cushioning the corona-related burdens on the state budget through a special fund. We fought over it, also about how high and what exactly, but I believe we have reached the common conviction that after the burdens of the corona pandemic an effective economic restart and advancement of digitalisation can only happen if we don’t do it solely in the core budget. That is why we will launch the special fund for this narrow corona reference. My dear ladies and gentlemen! Let me return once more to Saxony-Anhalt and the state parliament. The government under the leadership of the Minister President, but also the coalition parliamentary groups, will decisively implement the projects agreed in the coalition agreement. For us Free Democrats it also applies that the state parliament and its committees are the places where we discuss and decide. We want and will not shy away from any discussion, no matter how lengthy or even hard to bear it may be. In parliamentary democracy it is the state parliament that decides, and that is how we want to proceed together. Parliamentary rights, especially minority rights in parliament, are important to us Free Democrats. We will always defend them. But if, dear ladies and gentlemen of the AfD, such rights are used to discredit and disparage parliamentary democracy, we will clearly and decisively oppose it. (Applause – interjection: We do too! – further heckling) My dear ladies and gentlemen! Honourable Mr Minister President! Esteemed members of the state government! The Free Democrats in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament will support you. We may perhaps push you in some places. But we have great confidence in the entire state government, and therefore we will do everything to jointly shape our state of Saxony-Anhalt: strong, modern, crisis-proof and just. – Thank you very much for your attention. (Applause) Vice President Wulf Gallert: Mr Kosmehl, there is a question from colleague Siegmund. You can decide whether you want to answer it. Do you want to? Guido Kosmehl (FDP): Not today. (Laughter) Vice President Wulf Gallert: No. Then that settles it. (Heckling: That shows how you want to discuss! And you face the problems! Great! – further heckling) – Stop once more! Calm down! Mr Kosmehl did not allow a question. Therefore the question cannot take place. Once again: If you want to make sure that you can say something about a speech – this is for the members who are here for the first time in the eighth legislative period, have of course read everything intensively, but do not have everything present every second – then go to the microphone. When you stand there, it is an interjection. Then the person standing at the front cannot refuse. If you signal, it is a question. Then the person at the front can refuse it. There is, however, one exception: If the person at the front is a member of the state government, he cannot refuse it. Then you can stay seated. That would be the exception. Mr Gebhardt, what else do you have? (Stefan Gebhardt, DIE LINKE: A short intervention! That’s why I’m standing here, Mr President, I have no choice! – Laughter) – With that you have already demonstrated how it should be done. I gladly admit, you were outside my field of vision, but the burden of proof would have been on me. Then you can now take the floor, and Mr Kosmehl can decide whether he wants to respond to it. – Mr Gebhardt, you have the floor. Stefan Gebhardt (DIE LINKE): Thank you very much, Mr President. – I’ll really keep it very short. It is only a short intervention. – I actually want to express my joy about something: This was the first speech in a long time that we in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament have heard again from a Free Democrat, and moreover from the esteemed colleague Guido Kosmehl, who also gave one or two memorable speeches in the legislative periods ten years ago. So it will be, at least for me, with today’s speech as well; because – for that I would like to thank him very much – Ms von Angern didn’t really have to explain our tax concept at all, Guido Kosmehl did that extraordinarily well. He has here – in contrast to the neoliberal zeitgeist that his party continues to breathe – also demonstrated the wealth tax as an alternative model. So heartfelt thanks. Mr Kosmehl, you have proven with this that you did not hide in Saxony-Anhalt over the last ten years, but that you have definitely paid attention to one thing or another. Vice President Wulf Gallert: All right. – I still do not see any desire for a response. Therefore we have reached the end of this debate contribution and can continue with the speakers’ list. Author: AI-Translation - АИИ | |
|
| Other articles: |
 | New Now: Rain Swimsuits for This Hellish Summer! Or Cave Summer?According to climate apocalyptics, summer 2025 was supposed to burn us straight into hell – with temperatures beyond 40 degrees and heatwaves making grilling completely unnecessa... zum Artikel |
 | How Dangerous Free Thinking Can Be - Flag Ceremony in Aschersleben Led by Director Colette RinkA remarkable event of a special kind kept the quiet coziness of Aschersleben’s residents on edge on October 28, 2024, as the steadfast Director Colette Rink, during the evening f... zum Artikel |
 | A Young Mother from NaumburgA submission from a young mother from Naumburg (Burgenland district) with her thoughts on the measures and the pandemic.... zum Artikel |
|
Support the operation of this website with voluntary contributions: via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/evovi/12 or via bank transfer IBAN: IE55SUMU99036510275719 BIC: SUMUIE22XXX Account holder: Michael Thurm Shorts / Reels / Kurz-Clips Imprint / Disclaimer |