SPD leader Lars Klingbeil rejects calls for the separation of party leadership and government positions

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has countered demands from his party that he should either give up his party or his government office. This will not help the SPD in the current situation, argued Klingbeil at a public discussion in Wiesbaden. The idea that in the event of a separation of offices, the party leader could implement "pure SPD" while a minister makes government policy "that works on a blank sheet of paper, but it doesn't work in reality," he said.

A party member had previously called for a party executive committee that was not bound to party ideas or was subject to compulsory coordination with the Union. Klingbeil said that before he became finance minister, as party leader he was not asked publicly about “pure SPD”, but rather he had to comment on the government. Separating the offices would therefore not solve the problem.

In view of the poor poll numbers, dissatisfaction with the party leaders is growing among the SPD base. Most recently, the Frankfurt SPD sub-district called for a new election of the party leadership this fall - not through a party conference, but through a nationwide membership vote.

“The decision on the party chairmanship should be made by a binding, nationwide member vote,” said the resolution, which was also forwarded to the federal executive board in Berlin. The current party leadership bears responsibility for the strategic and political development of the past few years. “A new political beginning is therefore only credible if it is accompanied by a new personnel structure.”