Kevin Kühnert comes all in black – black sweater, black jacket, a pin with the German and Israeli flags on his lapel. Because of the terrorist attack by Hamas, we are suddenly dealing with another war. The SPD general secretary talks about how much this stresses people out. He more or less clearly admits that his own politics also stress many people.
Kühnert is standing on the first floor of the Willy Brandt House in Berlin, the atrium behind him – an election party was not planned for the state elections in Bavaria and Hesse. And there’s really nothing to celebrate. A red banner “Social Politics for You” hangs on the balustrade behind Kühnert. That is the claim, but no party in the traffic light coalition is currently being punished as much as Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party.
The projections and analyzes are shown on two televisions. If this should be an interim report at half time at the traffic lights, then it is clear. According to an ARD survey, 53 percent say that the state elections are a good opportunity to give the traffic light coalition a lesson.
Party leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil also give interviews. It was agreed in advance that there are three core messages: The traffic lights must take more and better care of people’s everyday concerns. There are also fewer arguments, a reminder especially to the FDP not to make a name for themselves at the expense of others. And Nancy Faeser should remain Federal Minister of the Interior despite her debacle as the top candidate in Hesse. But with all three there is also a certain sense of helplessness, or at least frustration.
“We need a different style”
It is the worst result in a state election in Bavaria and Hesse. One should not forget that the SPD had already lost 10.9 percentage points in the 2018 elections in both states; in Hesse it slipped to 19.8 percent and in Bavaria it fell to 9.7 percent.
“We need a different style. We have achieved a lot in two years,” says Klingbeil into one of the cameras. During the election campaign he heard a lot about the everyday concerns of voters, which revolve less around a self-determination law with the right to determine one’s own gender or cannabis legalization, but rather around financial difficulties when relatives have to be cared for or one’s own apartment is barely accessible is to pay. And then there are the many knock-on effects of war and inflation.
Some things were successful, such as curbing electricity and gas prices, but even in the SPD they admit that there is too much bullet-point politics, that all the measures lack a superstructure, that there is no major orientation – or that a lot of things just fizzle out in the dispute. Esken was recently asked whether the traffic light policy reached the wallets of many citizens, but not their hearts.
And so the SPD ends up with the question that is like the elephant in the room this evening. What does all this have to do with the Chancellor? Why doesn’t he manage to reach citizens emotionally and give them a feeling of security in the face of change?
Recognize the signals. But how?
“It’s a bitter evening for us in both federal states,” says Kühnert in the Willy Brandt House, which is empty except for a few journalists. The results have very complex causes that certainly cannot be summarized in a few short sentences. “But of course we are not deaf and blind; we see that the three parties in the traffic light coalition have lost in both federal states. And we should all recognize the signals together in the traffic light coalition.” This is the one hope that everyone understands the message that we can only succeed together.
But if at the same time it is emphasized that we need to pay more attention to the everyday concerns of citizens, for example when it comes to building housing, we quickly end up in a dead end. After all, in his election campaign for respect, the Chancellor had promised 400,000 new apartments a year and to curb the rise in rents. Many factors were unforeseeable, but the bottom line is a promise that cannot be kept. And because of the debt brake, which Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner is vehemently insisting on being adhered to, there is no money for new investments worth billions in order to perhaps provide some help from the state.
At the SPD federal party conference at the beginning of December, the Jusos could look for an outlet here. Things are now likely to become more uncomfortable for the Chancellor in his own shop. The gratitude for his success has noticeably drained away.
Just better communication, that might not be enough
Erik von Malottki entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2021. Like many members of the Bundestag, he fears that it won’t be enough to continue like this – just with less arguments. “This has to be a turning point in the legislature,” he says South German newspaper. The historically bad election result must have consequences. “The SPD must become more visible in the traffic lights and we must focus on social cohesion,” says Malottki. “Better communication is not enough,” warns the SPD politician from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The next major project with potential for conflict is to pacify the asylum issue as quickly as possible. The first step is to introduce a migration package into the cabinet so that deportations can be made more quickly, and the SPD also wants to approach the CDU/CSU. However, the warm dislike between Olaf Scholz and Friedrich Merz doesn’t make it any easier. Although the Chancellor primarily wants to approach the Union-governed states on the issues of more strictness and faster asylum procedures, they would also like to see the SPD join forces with the federal CDU in order to provide common answers to the AfD’s rise to fame .
The biggest election loser of the evening, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, is largely responsible for this. She wanted to become Prime Minister in Hesse, but in the end she ended up on equal terms with the AfD. Kühnert, Klingbeil and Esken don’t even want to allow a debate to arise as to whether a change is needed to signal a departure and whether Faeser might no longer have the necessary authority. “This result says nothing about the record of the Federal Minister of the Interior, who recently negotiated successful results in the area of European asylum policy,” Kühnert launches “Operation Damage Limitation” on this issue shortly after the first forecasts.