Norbert Walter-Borjans gives up office as SPD party chairman

At party congress
Norbert Walter-Borjans gives up office at the top of the SPD

The SPD chairman Norbert Walter-Borjans wants to give up his office. Walter-Borjans told the “Rheinische Post”, according to information on Friday, that he will not apply again for the party chairmanship at the party congress on December 11th. He had led the SPD since 2019 with Saskia Esken in a dual leadership.

“For me, the chairmanship was not associated with any further career planning from the outset, but the goal of getting the party on course,” Walter-Borjans told the newspaper. “With this mission, I have come so far that I can say: Now younger people should take it.” He had therefore asked the board of his North Rhine-Westphalian state association to forego his renewed nomination.

He left with the “good feeling that he had helped shape the SPD for two years,” said the 69-year-old. “During this time we have shown that we can stick together and be successful with social democratic politics. After many years we are again the leading figure in German politics.” He did not comment on possible successors.

Division of labor in the SPD has proven itself

Walter-Borjans opposed the fact that the future party leadership should go into the new cabinet. “A member of the government as a party leader is necessarily always a bit of a government spokesman.” The previous division of labor – party chairmanship on the one hand and government office on the other – has proven its worth.

Walter-Borjans had taken over the leadership of the SPD two years ago together with the co-leader Saskia Esken after the previous party leader Andrea Nahles had withdrawn from politics. Walter-Borjans and Esken initiated the Chancellor candidacy of the previous Federal Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz, which made the SPD the strongest force in the federal elections.

Scholz: “Dear Norbert, I am infinitely grateful to you”

SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz thanked party leader Norbert Walter-Borjans for “the trustful cooperation and support over the past two years” after he announced his withdrawal. “Together with Saskia Esken, Lars Klingbeil and Rolf Mützenich, we have led the SPD to new successes – this is also thanks to you,” Scholz wrote on Friday on Twitter. Walter-Borjans had previously announced that he would not run again at the party conference in December.

“Dear Norbert, I am infinitely grateful to you for the time we spent together,” wrote co-party leader Esken, also on Twitter. In her contribution, however, she did not comment on whether she would like to apply for another term as SPD chairwoman.

“The SPD is back and it is strong,” wrote Esken, referring only to the success of the Social Democrats in the federal elections. “Together we will lead this path to a good success in the coalition negotiations,” she announced.

Mützenich regrets resignation

SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich said in Berlin that he took Walter-Borjan’s announcement “with regret, but at the same time with understanding.” He “took over the chairmanship of the party together with Saskia Esken at an extremely difficult time at the end of 2019”. Hardly anyone expected at the time that the SPD would have the opportunity to lead a new government from the top two years later.

“This success also has a lot to do with his work,” said Mützenich, praising Walter-Borjan’s services. He emphasized that the party leaders had succeeded “in ensuring that the SPD maintained its independence while it was part of the grand coalition”. Mützenich also made it clear that Walter-Borjans would “of course continue to play a decisive role” in the coalition negotiations with the Greens and the FDP.

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DPA