Former minister: Bärbel Bas speaks publicly for the first time since her resignation

Dusseldorf. Former SPD leader and Federal Labor Minister Bärbel Bas spoke in detail about her motives in a WDR interview after her resignation. The death of her stepdaughter, who had cancer, at the end of September hit her hard. “We were very close together for many years,” said Bas. During the end-of-life care in the hospice, she noticed “that I was running out of strength,” she said in the interview for the program “Confrontation: Markus Feldenkirchen meets Bärbel Bas”.

“It’s sometimes difficult to even get up in the morning when you ask yourself: what for?” She needs time to get out of this situation. But there are no such positions in prominent political positions. "I didn't have my head free for official matters, for politics. And I knew it would take me longer, I couldn't go back straight away." That is why she made the decision to resign from her top political positions.

There is a lot of hardship in politics. "Often there is hardly any humanity in this political business. Even when people are sick for a long time, it is hardly talked about. There is a kind of culture of silence because no one wants to appear weak in this tough political business," said Bas.

In her declaration of resignation, the 58-year-old also complained massively that the attacks on her from the ranks of the coalition partner CDU/CSU had continued during this difficult time for her personally. Looking back, Bas now said, she probably wouldn't have phrased her criticism that way. If she had suspected the extent of the coalition dispute this would trigger, she would have refrained from criticizing the Union.

At the same time, in the ARD interview, she was critical of the role of Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU). She informed Merz about her private situation and also complained about the attacks from his party. The CDU launched a real campaign against her and the SPD. "He also assured me that he would take care of it. But it wasn't well received," Bas said of Merz. She never spoke to Merz about her resignation - the Chancellor was informed about it by her co-party leader Lars Klingbeil (SPD).