Esken and Klingbeil re-elected as SPD leaders
On the first day of their federal party conference in Berlin, the Social Democrats confirm their two leaders in office. Despite the difficult situation of their party in the polls and in the federal government, both receive good results. Esken becomes the longest serving SPD leader since 1945.
SPD leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil have been elected for a further two years in office. Esken received 82.6 percent of the vote after receiving 76.6 percent in 2021. Klingbeil received 85.6 percent of the delegates' votes. Two years ago it was 86.3 percent. Both accepted the election. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert and the extended party executive will also be newly elected at the party conference at the Berlin Exhibition Center.
Esken is thus entering her third term in office, having formed a top duo at the head of the party with Norbert Walter-Borjans for the first time in 2019. Walter-Borjans decided not to stand for re-election after the 2021 general election. At six years, Esken would be the fourth-longest serving party leader in the post-war period together with Kurt Schumacher - after Sigmar Gabriel (7.5 years), Erich Ollenhauer (10 years) and Willy Brandt (22 years).
At the beginning of her speech, Esken referred to the SPD's disastrous poll ratings when it was first elected four years ago. Nevertheless, the SPD had become the governing party two years later. In the RTL/ntv trend barometer, the SPD currently ranks on a par with the Greens at 14%, trailing behind the AfD with 22% and the CDU/CSU with 30%. However, these figures did not diminish Esken and Klingbeil's election results any more than the sometimes bitter defeats in state elections, most recently in Bavaria and Hesse.
"Not prepared to give up the welfare state"
In their candidacy speeches, both chairmen spoke of difficult times for the country and the party. The federal government has still not been able to draw up a budget for next year. Esken warned that "the country will collapse" if social cohesion is undermined. She called for a reform of the debt brake so that investments in the economy and climate protection are still possible without social cuts. "The financing of crisis management must be rethought as a result of the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court. And the financing of major intergenerational tasks, such as climate change, must also be put on a new footing," said Esken. Neither of these can be financed from the core budget. "And we are certainly not prepared to give up our welfare state for this," said Esken.
Klingbeil warned that only the loud voices were defining the discourse. The SPD must focus on the concerns and issues of those who cannot be heard, but who work every day and care about their fellow human beings. "These are the people who get up in the morning and go to work, who want a good future for their children. Who have to make up for every daycare strike and every missed school day. But who still don't call in sick to work, who tear themselves apart," said Klingbeil. "They would perhaps also like to scream sometimes, but not in anger, but in exhaustion." The SPD must make policy for these people.
"Politics shouldn't be about whether someone drives a car, eats bratwurst or flies to Mallorca once a year, not about what language we speak or whether we use gender," said Klingbeil. It's about "affordable rents, good wages, decent care and the best education", said Klingbeil.
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SPD leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil were re-elected as party conference delegates to lead the party for another two years. During their speeches, Esken emphasized the importance of reforming the debt brake to allow for investment in the economy and climate protection without social cuts, while Klingbeil focused on the need for the SPD to prioritize the concerns of working-class individuals who are often overlooked in political discourse. At the conference, SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert and the extended party executive were also elected to new terms.
Source: www.ntv.de
