Jusos in the Bundestag: More pragmatism than loud riots

Status: 10/28/2022 11:45 a.m

The 2021 federal election has rejuvenated the SPD parliamentary group: almost a quarter of the MPs are with the Jusos. The young SPD is meeting today for the federal congress. What have the Jusos been able to do in the group so far?

By Vera Wolfskkampf, ARD Capital Studio

“Of course, new impetus is always good,” says Katja Mast, who has been a member of the Bundestag for the SPD since 2005. However, half of the group is new since the election a year ago. That enriches SPD politics, Mast thinks, “because it brought a lot of biographies to the Bundestag that we didn’t have before, a lot of young people, many with a migration background.”

The election has rejuvenated the SPD parliamentary group: A quarter of the deputies are younger than 35 years and thus members of the Jusos, the party’s newcomers. He is considered uncompromising, more left than the mother party. And he wants to push through the core of the SPD program, says Juso boss Jessica Rosenthal, who has also been in the Bundestag since 2021: “Of course it helps a lot that we have many Jusos in Parliament, who have many, many small reporters – make sure that this really happens.”

Lots of little talks, that doesn’t sound like the revolt that some expected when so many young people came into parliament. As Parliamentary Secretary, Mast controls the work of the parliamentary group: “Well, I don’t see any rebellion and the Jusos are not and never were a homogeneous block.”

Different balance sheet

The assessments of how much influence the boys have are also very different. Erik von Malottki came to the Bundestag as a Juso. He is now 36 years old and officially no longer belongs to the youth organization. His interim assessment after the first year in the Bundestag: “We haven’t yet found the right ways and means of making ourselves visible. And of course that’s due to uncertain times and all that stuff. But I wouldn’t say that’s an excuse. I know enough people who want that. Of course, a lot of people are unsure because we’re doing everything for the first time.”

The Juso chairwoman Rosenthal sees it differently. The Jusos fought, for example, with rising energy prices, to support the poor and for the rich to bear more costs. “I wouldn’t say that we as Jusos were particularly quiet, on the contrary, when it comes to the gas levy, for example, we made it extremely clear, including myself, where we stand. And in the end, that got us yes also right.”

Mast: New ones demanded in the Bundestag on the first day

Nevertheless, the Jusos do not attract attention by constantly complaining about their SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz or the government work. Mast is not surprised. All of the crises are challenging, especially for the newcomers to the Bundestag: “From day one, you were called upon to take responsibility that I have never seen before. We were still in Corona. There was Putin’s war of aggression, which violated international law, which raised completely new questions put to us with the turn of the times.”

And the SPD has made its young people responsible: as legal policy spokespersons, integration officers or deputy chairmen of the parliamentary group – all no older than 35. Even in these positions, more pragmatism and less rioting is often required.

Jusos in the Bundestag: Quiet influence instead of loud riots

Vera Wolfskkampf, ARD Berlin, October 28, 2022 11:30 a.m

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