SPD General Secretary
Kühnert: “I don’t serve Olaf Scholz either, but the SPD”
Kevin Kühnert gives a press conference at the SPD party headquarters after his party’s committee meetings. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa
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As Juso boss, Kühnert had made a name for himself as an opponent of Scholz. Will he now change his stance to support the new Chancellor?
The new SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert wants to support Chancellor Olaf Scholz, but does not see this as his only task. “I don’t serve Olaf Scholz either, but the SPD,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
“Olaf Scholz is chancellor of the SPD, so what I do is geared towards enabling him to do his job successfully. But the interests of the SPD go even further – in terms of time and program. » The SPD is about more “than we could agree with the FDP and the Greens for one election period”.
As Juso boss, Kühnert had made a name for himself as an opponent of Scholz. In the interview, he denied changing his stance. “A general secretary who is a turncoat would not be successful in his office,” he said. “I’m the same person I’ve always been – who else?” However, in politics, one is elected to office to perform a specific task, he added. “As Secretary General, I have the task of communicating how the SPD wants to shape politics, and I’m working on the further development of their program.”
Kühnert set the goal of surpassing the result of the last federal election of 25.7 percent. “Obviously we want to continue to improve our results by proving that we can be relied on.” Kühnert attributed the decline in membership – in the year of the election success, 22,000 comrades left the SPD – to the pandemic. “Corona is a burden for social commitment,” he said. The classic party life on site, the summer festivals and local association meetings are missing.