Shortly before the 70th party congress a debate about the correct handling of the climate protection movement "Fridays for Future" has flared up in the FDP. The trigger is the statement of party leader Christian Lindner, climate protection is "a thing for professionals", and his repeated criticism of the demonstrations at school.

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"Sympathy is also due to ecological and social sensitivity," says the long-serving FDP Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger in SPIEGEL. "We should support the great youth movement for climate and environment and talk to it." (Read the whole story at SPIEGEL + here.)

Deputy party leader Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann recalled that the FDP had used the prejudice in the years 2009 to 2013 by false intonation, the Liberals are heartless and cold. "This image is still present, so we need to be particularly sensitive in our communication." Although liberals should not "knot the tongue", Strack-Zimmermann told SPIEGEL, "but in questions such as climate protection, to which there are no simple answers, we must weigh our words carefully."

The displeasure of Lindner's comments is also great because they do not fit the claim that has given the resurrected FDP. The Liberals wanted to appear "empathic" in the future, according to the "mission statement" that the party in the extra-parliamentary opposition decided to overcome the historic defeat of 2013. The mission statement is no trifle, says the chairman of the Young Liberals, Ria Schröder. "It is the duty of the elect to stick to it, even on such soft topics as communication."

"Long conversations over tea and carrot biscuits"

The first parliamentary director of the FDP, Marco Buschmann, warns against overestimating the subject of empathy. "Many people think empathy means that in long conversations with tea and carrot biscuits, things are always being ruminated," Buschmann told SPIEGEL. But empathy does not mean being nice to everyone, always and under all circumstances. "Because we are pursuing the will of the people, and strife is the most effective vehicle for conveying political arguments."

Of course, it was not the intention of the FDP to offend the climatic confreres. "Christian Lindner did not say the teens should not demonstrate - he just pointed out that it takes the expertise of the right people to tackle climate change." Even the Greens have now admitted that some demands of the demonstrators are not technically feasible, so Bushman.

Although he has sympathy for free democrats, who rely on the model, but more important than the question of how to communicate, is the question of what program you offer. "We should argue about the material rather than the instrumental things."

The climate policy spokesman of the FDP parliamentary group Lukas Köhler sees the climate issue for the FDP both a chance and a problem. Chance, because it shows how the FDP has broadened thematically. "Nevertheless, we are still not considered as empathetic towards climate protectionists," said Köhler. "We have sophisticated concepts, but they are often so complicated to explain that they do not come across emotionally."

This topic comes from the new SPIEGEL magazine - available at the kiosk from Saturday morning and every Friday at SPIEGEL + and in the digital magazine edition.

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