SPD motions would bar Klingbeil from party chair and cabinet post at January congress

Two motions against a renewed Klingbeil bid

On Saturday, 14 November, Spiegel reported that a broad alliance of SPD working groups has formed to stop Lars Klingbeil from standing again for the party chairmanship. The report cites two motions prepared for the ordinary federal party congress on 16 and 17 January in Bremen. The first motion is backed by several working groups, among them the AfA, the SPD Frauen, AG 60 plus, the migration and diversity group, the education group and SPD queer. It states that the federal party chairmanship may not currently be held together with a ministerial post in the federal government.

The motion argues that the SPD must restore its independence, its credibility and its capacity to act as a party of working people. It holds that a minister is bound by cabinet decisions and coalition compromises, while a party leader may have to contradict the government in public when necessary. The motion calls for a clear organisational and personal separation between leading the party and holding government office at federal level. Spiegel published these passages as a preview ahead of its full report.

The Jusos go further

The SPD youth organisation, the Jusos, have filed a similar motion that goes further. It also demands the separation of government office and party leadership, and it insists that women be ensured places in top positions. The motion says a female sole chair would be the strongest instrument for achieving this, and the Jusos say they would explicitly welcome such a leadership. Juso chairman Philipp Türmer had already spoken out against a renewed candidacy by Klingbeil. The youth organisation's stance therefore places the dispute on both the question of who leads and the question of how the party's leadership is shaped.

Why the motions single out one person

Lars Klingbeil, 48, is deputy chancellor and finance minister in the black-red federal government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU). Many Social Democrats hold him responsible for the party's decline in opinion polls, and the motions echo the charge that he puts keeping the coalition ahead of the party's welfare. He has left open whether he will run again, saying he wants the best possible setup for the SPD and that he is not clinging to his post. A general ban on combining party and government office would also reach state premiers who lead their regional party associations, so the motions confine themselves to the current situation at federal level. Since Bas stepped down, that narrow scope applies to one person alone.

Bas's exit and the January congress

Bärbel Bas resigned on 12 October as SPD co-chair and federal labour minister, stepping down from all of her offices and citing personal reasons. Klingbeil has since announced that the entire party executive will be re-elected at the ordinary federal congress in mid-January. The succession question has been debated intensely within the party since then.

The Spiegel report describes organised resistance forming against his candidacy, and the two motions are now before the congress in Bremen, where the whole leadership is up for election.