SPD
Prime Minister Weil: Scholz undisputed “number one”
According to Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil, Chancellor Olaf Scholz will also lead the SPD in the next election campaign. (Archive photo) Photo
© Michael Matthey/dpa
After the disastrous result of the European elections, the Chancellor’s party is grappling with the consequences. Lower Saxony’s head of government is demanding that his comrades speak plainly in the dressing room, but go out on the field as one.
Weil stressed: “It makes no sense to start a public argument after a lost game. You have to talk to each other openly in the dressing room, but then go back onto the field as a united front.”
The SPD only received 13.9 percent in the European elections, its worst result in a nationwide vote. Subsequently, several SPD politicians expressed the expectation that Scholz would be more aggressive in the traffic light coalition in promoting the core concerns of the Social Democrats. On Sunday, leading SPD politicians met for a special meeting of the party presidium to discuss the consequences.
Will Scholz be a candidate for chancellor again?
Weil said that what needs to change is the cooperation within the traffic light coalition. People are overestimating “what a Chancellor can actually do in a situation like this, where coalition partners (…) do not always show the necessary level of constructiveness.” The three coalition partners are now facing a very difficult task. “And if they are wisely advised, they will agree on a common course.”
Scholz also urged the coalition in interviews at the weekend to pull itself together after the poor results of the traffic light parties in the European elections. On ARD, when asked whether he was sure that he would be the SPD’s next candidate for chancellor in light of the criticism, he answered with a brief “yes”.