Stephan Weil: Caretaker or procrastinator?

Some criticize him for being breezy, others like his down-to-earth manner: Stephan Weil has won elections for the SPD even when nothing looked like it. Now he wants to be prime minister of Lower Saxony for the third time.

The black VW bus on the outskirts of Delmenhorst’s city center cannot be overlooked. It is placarded extensively with the likeness of Stephan Weil. The door opens and the man gets out. However, he doesn’t look quite as relaxed as in the pictures on the bus. The summer is finally over – and the hot phase of the election campaign has begun.

Stephan Weil, Prime Minister of Lower Saxony and again SPD top candidate. He came to Delmenhorst to answer – to the questions of the voters. And they want to know a lot from the man who is applying for his third term: How does the SPD intend to solve the educational problems in Lower Saxony? What’s next for the energy crisis? And how can small and medium-sized companies survive this phase?

caretaker and crisis manager

Since Weil was first elected Prime Minister of Lower Saxony ten years ago, the crises have come one after the other: immigration, the pandemic and now the effects of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine. “I didn’t apply to deal with as many crises as possible,” he says. But that’s the way it is now. Because he likes being a caretaker and crisis manager. He is counting on people relying on security – that is on him – in these turbulent times, as he has emphasized several times in recent weeks.

He answers every question, no matter how small, he explains highly complex political decisions in a way that is otherwise only known from children’s programs. The SPD politician: “The question marks on people’s faces when it comes to energy are unmistakable, that’s the dominant issue.” The fact that this is mainly about federal politics doesn’t bother Weil much. That goes down well in Delmenhorst. Because the right man is in crisis, he is empathetic, understands people, says a woman. She knows what to expect from him. Certainly, Weil also carries the office bonus through this phase.

Not everything worked

In the past five years, not everyone at the political level saw that he was a good crisis manager. The opposition in the Lower Saxony state parliament has repeatedly accused the Prime Minister of hesitating, being too slow and not properly educating people during the pandemic. Corona rules have been overturned several times by the administrative court in Lüneburg. The state court also ruled that the red-black state government had not sufficiently involved the opposition factions in the decisions at the beginning of the pandemic.

Other things that the Social Democrats had planned have not worked either. He implemented his most succinct election promises: Daycare fees were abolished and a new public holiday introduced. At the same time, however, he also failed: the care chamber in Lower Saxony hit a wall. And he was also unable to realize his plan to introduce a parity law for the state parliament. The construction of social housing did not make any progress during his tenure.

Early retirees with an 80-hour week?

Critical voices say that Weil has become “slow”. He made himself a little too comfortable in his office. His CDU challenger Bernd Althusmann – himself 55 years old – repeatedly points out that the 63-year-old SPD top candidate is applying for early retirement.

Because that can bounce off in itself. “My idea of ​​early retirement doesn’t quite match the 80-hour week that you have in the office,” he says with a mischievous grin. He often does so in situations where he thinks he’s quick-witted – having beaten the challengers. After all, in polls dealing with direct elections, he is well ahead of his coalition partner and Deputy Prime Minister Althusmann.

Political professional knows how to present himself

The SPD top candidate has now arrived at the autumn market in Hanover’s Buchholz district. It’s pouring rain, but that doesn’t spoil his mood. He opens his red umbrella with the SPD logo, runs the mile, greets people and quickly raffles off a trip to Berlin in a raffle. “He really goes along with everything,” says a comrade with a mixture of pride and astonishment.

Because is a political professional, he knows how to present himself. There are hardly any breakdowns. But big pictures – he coined that of the “beer-drinking prime minister” himself. He also likes to play with the statement that he “became a socialite under Willy Brandt”. He wants to be close to the voters, but he also wants people to see that. So far it has worked well, recently surprisingly well. When the SPD suffered a massive electoral defeat with Martin Schulz in the federal elections in 2017, Weil managed for the first time since 1998 to make the party the strongest force in Lower Saxony again. That made an impression in Berlin, in 2019 he was in talks as SPD leader.

Hanover instead of Berlin

Weil did not move to the federal level. He stayed in Hanover. Because he only goes down paths that he knows are not doomed to fail, confidants say.

The SPD top candidate was socialized in Hanover’s political backrooms. He witnessed the political heyday of Lower Saxony’s social democrat Sigmar Gabriel and was city treasurer when Gerhard Schröder rose from prime minister to chancellor. But Weil also saw how hard the political crash at the federal level can be, for example with Andrea Nahles. In Lower Saxony, however, Weil was safe. Even now he is confident of victory. He has not yet given the thought of a possible election defeat. Because backs plan A.