Parties - NRW SPD takes heart: no fear of Sahra Wagenknecht
The SPD leadership in North Rhine-Westphalia sees no cause for concern that the " Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance" could steal the thunder from the Social Democrats. So far, Wagenknecht's career has merely been "a history of splits and failures", said SPD state party leader Achim Post in Düsseldorf on Monday. The founding of her alliance had not led to any resignations in the NRW SPD, said General Secretary Frederick Cordes.
However, it is true that there is "room for improvement" in the polls for the SPD in the state and federal government, said co-chair Sarah Philipp. In recent polls, the NRW SPD had fallen to a low of 18% (state election 2022: 26.7%), while the federal party recently stood at 17%.
Nevertheless, the new NRW leadership tandem sees the party on the upswing again 100 days after taking office. "The NRW SPD is back," said Post. In the motions for the upcoming national party conference in Berlin (December 8 to 10), the state association had prevailed on all elementary issues - such as the demand for a crisis tax on particularly high incomes.
"There has never been more unity," said Philipp, referring to the cooperation between the party branches at different levels. "We have now become a team party," added Cordes. "That was different before."
The task now is to work on "a new narrative of the SPD in the West" and to involve external parties in the process, said Cordes. The last social democratic narrative was "Leave no child behind". This was the leitmotif of former Minister President (2010-2017) and former state party leader (2007-2017) Hannelore Kraft. Previously, Willy Brandt, for example, had created a powerful narrative of the "sky over the Ruhr", which was to become blue again.
In the coming year, the state party wants to sharpen its profile in four workshops on core topics such as "prosperity for all", family policy, infrastructure and social cohesion. A third of the representatives are to be recruited from various external organizations. There are also plans for commissions on domestic policy and a humanitarian and solidarity-based asylum policy. The aim here is to build bridges across different internal party positions. The aim is "to make our justice DNA visible again", explained Cordes.
Philipp and Post, who is also chairman of the NRW state group of the SPD in the Bundestag, were elected as the first dual leadership of the state party at a party conference at the end of August. Post will run for the position of Vice-Chairman at the national party conference and will then also replace his predecessor Thomas Kutschaty in this role.
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The 'Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance' is not perceived as a threat to the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia by its leadership, despite her history of splits and failures. Achim Post, the SPD state party leader, made these comments in Düsseldorf. Despite a decline in polls for the SPD in both the state and federal government, the new NRW leadership duo of Post and Sarah Philipp sees the party on the rise again. The task now is to develop a new narrative for the SPD in the West, as acknowledged by General Secretary Frederick Cordes.
Source: www.stern.de
