Esken and Klingbeil re-elected as SPD chairmen
At that time, Esken received 76.7 percent of the vote, Klingbeil 86.3 percent. Esken has headed the SPD since 2019. Klingbeil was first elected SPD leader in 2021. He was previously Secretary General.
Both accepted the election. Esken thanked them for their trust. Klingbeil said it was "a great honor to be able to lead our proud social democracy for the next two years".
In their candidacy speeches, both Esken and Klingbeil called for a reform of the debt brake in order to be able to make necessary investments. We "cannot finance major generational tasks from the budget", said Esken. With a view to demands from the CDU/CSU and FDP, Klingbeil opposed "taking the axe to the welfare state".
Esken and Klingbeil sharply attacked opposition leader Friedrich Merz. The CDU leader embodied a neo-liberal "economic policy of the 1990s", said Klingbeil. The Merz CDU is "the most populist opposition of all time" and is agitating "in chorus with the AfD" against the coalition government, criticized Esken.
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At the Federal Party Conference, both Esken and Klingbeil were once again elected as the SPD Chairwoman and Chairperson respectively. Esken received a significant majority of 76.7% votes, while Klingbeil received an even stronger vote of 86.3%. As the SPD Chairwoman since 2019, Esken expressed her gratitude for the trust placed in her during her acceptance speech. In his speech, Klingbeil expressed his profound honor in leading the proud social democracy for the next two years. During their candidacy speeches, both Esken and Klingbeil advocated for the reform of the debt brake to enable necessary investments, with Klingbeil opposing any attempts to cut welfare state funding. In their critique of the opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, Esken and Klingbeil labeled his economic policy as neo-liberal and the Merz CDU as the most populist opposition. They further criticized the opposition's alignment with the AfD against the coalition government.
Source: www.stern.de
