Social Democrats
Klingbeil and Esken want to remain SPD dual leaders
Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil, both SPD co-chairs, come to a press conference after the committee meetings of the SPD federal leadership. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
The SPD will line up in December for the second half of the electoral period. The content will cover topics such as taxes, foreign policy and education. But personnel issues also need to be clarified.
Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken want the dual leadership of the Chancellor’s party for another two years Stay SPD. The two announced on Monday in the SPD presidium that they would run together again as party leaders at the party conference on December 8th. Secretary General Kevin Kühnert is also running for a second term. The party presidium and the board with its 35 members unanimously supported the leadership trio. If the three are elected, they will lead the SPD into the 2025 federal election – probably together with Chancellor Scholz as the top candidate.
Klingbeil “sign of stability” – Esken: election victory as a goal
Klingbeil viewed the joint candidacy as a “sign of stability” in turbulent times. He has already achieved a lot together with Esken. “But we’re not finished yet.” Esken recalled that she became party leader in 2019 with the aim of winning the 2021 federal election. “I want to say very clearly: This is our goal now too. We have elections ahead of us that we want to win.”
The 62-year-old Esken, together with Norbert Walter-Borjans, prevailed in a runoff election of SPD members in 2019 against today’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his current Construction Minister Klara Geywitz. After the 2021 federal election, in which the SPD became the strongest party for the first time in almost 20 years, Lars Klingbeil, now 45, moved up to the dual leadership for Walter-Borjans. Up to this point he was general secretary and managed the election campaign from which Scholz ultimately emerged as chancellor.
Crushing election defeats cause unrest in the party
In the first two years of their term in office, both saw their task primarily as supporting the first SPD head of government in 16 years in the difficult three-way alliance with the Greens and FDP. However, the crushing election defeats in Hesse and Bavaria have caused unrest in the party and led to calls for the SPD to raise its profile.
Next year there will be the European elections, three state elections in East Germany and several local elections. The big question is: Will the AfD’s soaring and the simultaneous crash of the traffic lights continue? The SPD only got 15 to 17 percent in the most recent polls for the federal election – compared to 25.7 percent in the 2021 election. The three traffic light parties together fell from 52 percent in 2021 to an average of 32 to 33 percent in nationwide surveys today away.
Three key motions are to be adopted
The party conference will take place in Berlin from December 8th to 10th. The entire party executive committee will be re-elected. Three key proposals are to be passed on the modernization of Germany, the realignment of foreign policy and education policy.
Rich people are asked to pay – 100 billion program for education
The key proposal to modernize Germany, which was presented a week ago, stipulates that income tax should be reduced for 95 percent of the population. To achieve this, the rich should be asked to pay more, among other things, through a temporary “crisis levy”. The SPD also wants to loosen the debt brake, increase the minimum wage and invest 100 billion euros annually in education, infrastructure, digitalization and the restructuring of industry.
Security from rather than with Russia
With the foreign policy proposal, the SPD is making a U-turn in its Russia policy as a consequence of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The SPD’s 2021 election program said: “Peace in Europe cannot be against Russia, but only with it.” Now this sentence is turned into its opposite: “As long as nothing fundamentally changes in Russia, Europe’s security against Russia will have to be organized.” The SPD also advocates for Germany to play a leading role in the world. The draft for the main proposal expressly recognizes the military as a means of peace policy.
Just a supporting role for the topic of migration
The topic of migration, however, only plays a secondary role in the three applications submitted so far. Chancellor Scholz’s approach to concluding migration agreements with countries of origin is supported. This is intended to promote the recruitment of skilled workers, but at the same time make it easier to return refugees without the right to remain in Germany. However, the current debate about benefit cuts for asylum seekers or asylum procedures outside the EU have not yet been included in the applications.
Juso congress could give a foretaste of the party conference
Chancellor Scholz recently set out a tough course on deportations in clear words: “We finally have to deport on a large scale those who have no right to stay in Germany,” he told “Spiegel”. There was then open criticism, especially from the young socialists in the SPD. They are coming together for their federal congress this weekend. There should be a foretaste of the discussions that will take place at the party conference. However, according to the Jusos, Scholz turned down the invitation to the congress a long time ago.