Voting over traffic lights: is there enough SPD in the coalition agreement?

Today it’s getting serious: The SPD is voting on the coalition agreement at a digital party congress. Even if a rejection is not to be expected – there should be critical remarks.

In the SPD leadership they are certain: the coalition agreement will pass. And not only because the penultimate of the 177 pages reads this sentence: “The SPD provides the Federal Chancellor.”

SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil played a key role in negotiating the contract; there is much in it that the SPD promised in the election campaign. Klingbeil counts: A minimum wage of twelve euros, affordable housing through 400,000 new apartments to be built annually. In addition, the SPD safeguards the pension level, so make sure that people really get a stable pension.

According to Klingbeil, she is doing something in the field of care and organizing climate protection ambitiously, but also in such a way that many new jobs are created. And it radically declares war on child poverty.

Even the left wing is in a mild mood

This is pure SPD. That is why even extremely critical MPs from the left wing of the party, such as Sebastian Roloff from the DL-21 Forum, acknowledge that the coalition agreement is a good basis – even if Roloff is still in need of discussion, especially on the question of whether there should be drones armed with the SPD in the future sees.

It is almost certain that the delegates will vote for the coalition agreement. But debates should not fail to appear: This was shown by the Juso Federal Congress, at which some clear criticism of the paper was expressed.

Among other things, from the Bavarian Juso boss Anna Tanzer, who would have wished that the new citizen’s money, which is supposed to replace Hartz IV, be paid without the possibility of sanctions. Or that the EU border protection agency Frontex will not be further developed, as it is in the treaty, but that it will be wound up.

Critical issues were cleared up in advance

Much of what the SPD would have liked to see in the contract had already been cleared away in the exploratory talks before the contract negotiations – for example the citizens’ insurance. Not to be done with the FDP.

This not only regrets the newly elected SPD MP Markus Hümpfer. For Kevin Kühnert, the designated Secretary General, it gnaws at the integrity of the SPD if one calls for citizens’ insurance for five election campaigns in a row, but gives up this demand first.

Kühnert made it clear at the Juso Federal Congress that he would like to rub himself against both the political opponent and the traffic light partner of the FDP in the coming coalition – coalition agreement or not. Because differences of opinion between parties are not resolved with the conclusion of a coalition agreement.

Minister names not until Monday

Kühnert’s announcement of a resistance should not inspire the designated Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The fact that – when he had promoted the contract at the Juso Federal Congress – recently advised critics to work more on the Union and not on those with whom he now wanted to take a seat on the government bench.

It is not yet clear who exactly should take a seat on the government bench for the SPD. Because what the delegates will not vote on is the personnel board of the future SPD ministers. The party leadership does not want to present that until next Monday.