Bijan Djir-Sarai resigns as FDP general secretary. He confirmed this in a press statement at the party headquarters. “I unknowingly provided incorrect information about an internal document,” said Djir-Sarai: “This was not my intention, as I had no knowledge of this paper myself – neither of its creation nor of its content.”
“I apologize for that,” Djir-Sarai continued: The Secretary General is responsible for such a process. “I therefore take political responsibility to prevent damage to my credibility and the FDP.”
FDP federal manager Carsten Reymann also announced his resignation, the party announced. He wanted to enable the party to reorganize its personnel before the federal election. According to the party, he is the author of the so-called “D-Day” paper.
On Thursday evening, the FDP had the document after research by, among others South German newspaper self-published on their homepage. The paper makes it clear that the FDP has planned the early end of the traffic light coalition in detail.
Some of the wording in the eight-page document caused outrage among political competitors. “D-Day” commonly refers to the day on which the Western Allies landed in Normandy in 1944 to advance the liberation of Europe from the Nazis. In the FDP, however, the word was apparently used to refer to the exit from the federal government. The paper also talks about an “open field battle”. “Such irresponsible actions destroy citizens’ trust in democratic institutions,” said SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch.
:FDP planned “open field battle”
An internal document from party headquarters about “D-Day” shows how the Liberals prepared the end of the traffic light coalition in October.
Djir-Sarai also came under pressure because, after SZ and Time who first reported on the paper claimed that the term “D-Day” had not been used: “That is wrong,” Djir-Sarai told the broadcaster ntv on November 18th.
On Thursday, the 48-year-old initially tried to downplay the importance of the paper: “We have never made a secret of the fact that without an economic turnaround, an end to the traffic lights could be a possible outcome of what we call the autumn of decisions.” He spoke of a scandalization of the preparation for scenarios. “If the entire German media landscape was already speculating about the end of the traffic lights at this point, then it is only professional to prepare for this option.” Djir-Sarai also said that “employees” had written the paper. This was not well received by many party members in the FDP.
Djir-Sarai was first elected to the German Bundestag in 2009, where he has been a member again since 2017. He is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and was foreign policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group from 2017 to 2022. He became general secretary of the party in 2022.
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