Social policy, migration, foreign policy and education: In view of the ongoing traffic light dispute and poor poll numbers, the SPD struggled for solutions to difficult issues at the federal party conference – and for its own survival.
It is one of the quiet, yet visually rich moments of the party conference. The SPD veteran Franz Müntefering came, 83 years old, after surviving heart surgery. There he is now standing with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Two SPD generations. Two politicians who could hardly be more different. There is the gnarled, striking “Münte”, which coined clear-cut sentences like “Opposition is crap”. And there is Olaf Scholz, who practices a rhetoric of caution. At least on a big stage.
At the SPD party conference, Scholz said on the hotly debated topic of migration: that you have to manage it with “good management so that no one can find a path under this (asylum) regime for whom this path is not intended.” Plain text sounds different. Scholz doesn’t even mention the word deportation. The Jusos attacked him sharply for his statement about “deportations on a large scale”. However, he omitted the additional sentence that he had added in “Spiegel”: “We finally have to deport on a large scale those who have no right to stay in Germany.”
The controversial topic of immigration
The chair of the meeting scheduled the debate on immigration at the most ungrateful time: right before the drinks at the “SPD party evening”. So on Saturday evening, until after 9 p.m., they wrestled for two hours over the party leadership’s last-minute key proposal. She tried to capture the topic.
Quite a balancing act: The traffic light coalition wants to increase deportations and cut benefits. The party conference, however, decided to make it easier for family reunifications and to continue to support civilian sea rescue. This upsets Italy – and the Chancellor isn’t particularly enthusiastic about it either. The debate was “very focused and, for the most part, very respectful.” This is how Aydan Özoguz from the meeting committee summarized it the morning after. One could also say: the SPD is looking for its social democratic core.
Esken calls for “real ones educational awakening”
It’s always about money. “The tiresome topic of money,” is how the re-elected SPD co-leader Saskia Esken called it. On the last day she submitted the key proposal for the “German Education Pact”. He calls for a “real educational awakening”. Paid for through redistribution to equalize unequal opportunities precisely because of origin. A reform of inheritance and gift tax, income tax, a suspension of the debt brake in the coming year: all decisions that the Chancellor is now taking into the budget discussions with the traffic light partners. At the same time, these are all resolutions that stand for “pure SPD” and – as the delegates also know – not for tomorrow’s government action.
The SPD is struggling with itself – and these traffic light partners. However, they, especially the FDP, hardly appeared in the many speeches. Instead, co-party leader Lars Klingbeil, who was also re-elected, worked on opposition leader Friedrich Merz. With a vehemence that made you believe for a while: Merz was Chancellor and it was not the SPD that had the power to shape things. Klingbeil railed: “Yesterday’s Friedrich will never be the future of our country.” Juso boss Philipp Türmer, on the other hand, also looks at his own ranks. He becomes the loudest critic of this party conference: against the Chancellor, who should please not become the “couple therapist for Robert Habeck and Christian Lindner”. And in conversation with him ARD capital studio also against the FDP. “It’s really not possible for the FDP to just keep blocking this government.”
Esken: “Survival of the fittest”
Scholz, on the other hand, only spoke to the Liberals through ties. Finance Minister and FDP leader Lindner said about the billion-dollar funding programs for the semiconductor industry that it didn’t matter whether the microchips came from Ireland, Germany or the USA. Without naming Lindner, Scholz said: “I wonder, is that really smart? I think not.”
Three days of party political high mass, three days of “pure SPD”. Or just the search for it. Quite tiring, or at least that was Esken’s impression on the last day, when she obviously looked at dull faces. It looks a bit like “Survival of the Fittest”; In other words, survival of the fittest, she headed towards the rows of seats. With poll numbers in the basement and a chancellor who is even behind AfD leader Alice Weidel when it comes to politician satisfaction, the SPD gave itself a lot of courage at this party conference and emphasized its social democratic core. Also for the sake of their own survival.