FDP deputy leader Wolfgang Kubicki with Christian Lindner in Berlin. Were the FDP to reprise its historic role as junior coalition partner to Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU/CSU, it would bring its staunch opposition to more financial transfers between European Union member countries. FDP secretary-general Nicola Beer says the goal is clear: "The decisive question for this election will be which party is the third largest." "I fear Chancellor Merkel and President Macron agree on new pots of money to create gigantic fiscal transfers... that won't happen with us," FDP leader Christian Lindner told Der Spiegel magazine last week. But the Berlin-Moscow connection might thaw if - as is common for a junior coalition partner - Free Democrats leader Lindner were to become foreign minister.

Source: The Local September 18, 2017 07:18 UTC