Redemption at the SPD: Federal Minister of Labor Bärbel BAS should lead the Social Democrats alongside Lars Klingbeil during the black and red reign. The leadership committees had “very positive”, the outgoing SPD boss Saskia Esken said in Berlin. According to a proposal by Esken and Co-party leader Lars Klingbeil, the new general secretary will become the member of the Bundestag Tim Klüssendorf.
After a day -long hanging area, Esken announced on Sunday evening at the ARD: “I now give up my party chairman and make room for the renewal.” For Klingbeil, the way was clear to set the course for the staff after filling the posts in the Federal Cabinet. The personnel suggestions were already known in the morning. The delegates have the choice at a federal party conference at the end of June.
Klingbeil thanks Esken
Klingbeil, now Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister, wants to compete again. Esken, which had left empty in the race for top posts, demonstrated confidence. Their office is “in the very best hands” at Bas if it is elected by the party conference delegates.
Klingbeil thanked Esken for the “close cooperation” and the “remarkable route” of both on the SPD leadership: “These were intense years we had together, with ups and downs.” The personnel list of the party should now receive the last building block.
“A historical task”
BAS had been in discussion for the top office for days. Klingbeil is looking forward to “a strong minister, a strong North Rhine-West Fall, a strong woman” at his side at the SPD top.
BAS announced that it would have a lot of discussions preceded by her decision to make the party to the candidacy. Just like Klingbeil, she announced that the 16.4 percent loss of 16.4 in the Bundestag election announced. The party chairmanship is “a historical task”.
A social democratic career
BAS is considered down-to-earth, on its website the Duisburg woman confesses her passion for football (“MSV Live on Radio Duisburg”), crime novels, the British pop greats Sting and the Police as well as currywurst, fries and Köpi (King Pilsener).
Bas emphasized her origin from conditions that “many training courses, many training courses” had necessary for their career. “I have a life path that many people have in this country,” she said.
BAS had not been given high tasks in the cradle. Born in Walsum, now part of Duisburg, as the daughter of a bus driver and a housewife, she learned to weld, concluded evening studies after training and further training and worked on the board of a health insurance company. BAS came to the SPD through her work as a works council. In 2009 she went to the Bundestag as the victorious direct candidate of her Duisburg constituency.
Uncomplicated and mediating
As a moderate party link, Bas made a name for itself in her faction, from 2013 as a parliamentary managing director. The Expert in Education and Health remained little known to the broader public until the SPD parliamentary group management was looking for a suitable and, last but not least, female candidate for the office of President of the Bundestag. Bas became the third woman in the second highest office of the Republic. She acted unpretentious, mediating, but also enforceable – for example as a head of the board of directors in the face of many AfD scores.
With the promise of a leadership as a team – and the words: “If it were easy, others could do it too.” As one of the tasks she wanted to perform with her party, BAS cited the protection of democracy in view of the strength of the AfD.
Political vertical starters
The designated General Secretary Klüssendorf, who has already done his new work on a temporary manner, is already to work, as Esken announced. According to Klingbeil, the spokesman for the parliamentary left in the SPD is supposed to ensure the visibility of his party. As a tax expert, he impressed him because of clear words and clear profile, said Klingbeil. The previous general secretary Matthias Miersch was elected as the new parliamentary group leader on Wednesday.
“The election result is still in our bones,” said Klüssendorf, who has been in the Bundestag since 2021. Before his new task, he has huge response and humility. On the one hand, the SPD must now exercise its responsibility in the government, and at the same time it was important to “sharpen a progressive profile for this party without always doing this at the expense of the coalition partner”.
How does the party congress react?
The reactions of the upcoming party conference are eagerly awaited to the proposed personnel table and its creation. The MP Ralf Stegner from the German Press Agency, also from Schleswig-Holstein, said to Klüssendorf: “It can be something too.” The decision for the young North German is a bit brave – the personnel are also a bit of hope.
There was a few criticism of the internal dealings with Esken. “The attempt to make it a scapegoat for our miserable election result was not a fame and did not correspond to the basic values of the SPD in the content or in the style of the debate,” the Stegner told the “Handelsblatt”.
However, criticism had always become loud, for example due to formulations in interviews. Critics accused Klingbeil of running the debate. In the ARD, Esken now said that she always had support at her side.
Hubertus Heil emits comment
Bas’ predecessor in the Federal Ministry of Labor also spoke up. The long-time minister Hubertus Heil, who, like Esken, had not received a management office and wants to continue as a member of parliament, praised X as a “excellent election” for the SPD chair.
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Source: Tagesspiegel
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