Closed meeting of the SPD: Internal discussions – external unity

Despite the war and the energy crisis: the SPD has found a new calm. At the annual meeting, however, it becomes controversial – albeit internally. Among other things, it should be about a faster expansion of the infrastructure.

What about the SPD? Once there was this simple answer: “Faction good. Party too. Good luck,” said Franz Müntefering, master of short sentences at the time. Almost 20 years later Secretary General Kühnert moves to the ARD this balance sheet: “Today I would say: ‘The party is good. The faction is too. The world situation is difficult’.”

Difficult is putting it kindly. War. Energy and climate crisis. And right in the middle an SPD, which provides the crisis chancellor and had to organize a cold start as the governing party in today’s catastrophe world.

But the party is doing splendidly: “Look at it,” said Kühnert in an interview with the ARD Capital Studio. “Even more than a year after taking over government, they are still a surprisingly united party.”

Kühnert: Everyone should know what guides us

So closed. When the Social Democrats come together for the board retreat, it’s about the balance sheet and the outlook. Where do we stand, where do we want to go? And: Are we actually explaining enough? Kühnert had once promised not to wall himself in in the Willy Brandt house.

Almost three years later he finds: It worked: “I have to respect that everyone never agrees with our policy. But my claim is that everyone knows what guides us. That’s what I gear the communication in the Willy Brandt House to. “

Rosenthal: SPD is measured by what it does

keyword communication. For the board retreat, the SPD has invited outside expertise. Topic: Communication in times of multiple crises. The SPD wants to know what could go better. Probably a lot.

Kühnert smiles mildly. There was the secretary of defense’s New Year’s Eve video that totally slipped up. They also want to talk about it – but internally: “The New Year’s Eve video shouldn’t have been now. But Christine Lambrecht is not the Instagram Minister in Germany, but the Minister of Defense.”

At all communication. Jessica Rosenthal, board member and Jusochefin, said ARD Capital Studio, she wanted to talk about distributive justice, about help for students and low earners. “Therefore, the question of communication is secondary,” said Rosenthal. “The SPD is measured by what it does and how it acts. Some things have gone well there.”

Wealth tax, climate protection and skilled workers

But the Juso boss wants to see something else at the top of the agenda in 2023: the wealth tax. For the SPD it is a classic. But one in which the SPD, despite the stubborn Finance Minister Christian Lindner and his FDP, is very happy. “Are we doing enough? Are we fighting hard enough for social justice to prevail in the crisis?” asked Rosenthal. “We’ve got to step it up a notch.”

It should also be about securing the industrial location, taking into account climate protection issues. The party also wants to talk about a specialist offensive. Topics, said Kühnert, which would also be important for the 2024 European elections and the upcoming federal elections.

SPD boss calls for speed in infrastructure expansion

And two more issues are close to the heart of the SPD: faster modernization of the infrastructure and the expansion of renewable energies. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil referred to the speed at which the liquid gas terminals were being built and called them exemplary for a new “Germany speed”. “We have seen that in Lower Saxony an LNG terminal with a new Germany speed will be completed in just 200 days,” Klingbeil told RND.

This shows that it works when the need and the political will are there. “I expect that this speed will now also be taken up in all areas of the modernization of our infrastructure,” says Klingbeil. By that he also means the education system from daycare to university, public administration or health care – the SPD counts all of this as part of the infrastructure.

Mützenich: work in peace

The Socialists meet for two days. In the coming week, parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich will drum up his parliamentary group. He already has a suggestion for 2023: Let’s work in peace. “I always advise everyone not to drive a new sow through the village every day, but to work in peace,” said Mützenich. “Solutions will be found. I can’t guarantee that everyone will like them.”

Kühnert does not fear that the SPD will degenerate into the new “Chancellor Election Association” because of sheer calm and unity. “If I wasn’t prepared to want to defend the policies of my politicians and my chancellor, I shouldn’t have applied to be Secretary General,” stressed Kühnert, adding: “That doesn’t mean I don’t have my own opinion.”

Internal discussions and external unity

The Socialists will hear them at the board meeting. However, internally: That has obviously proven itself. “Not because we lock everyone in the basement, or because we don’t have different opinions,” explained the SPD general secretary.

“We just learned, you clarify issues internally and then appear as one. That made us strong. We’ll keep going,” says Kühnert.