With whom does the SPD want to go?

So far, only names are circulating. There are no concrete applications for the SPD chief post yet, but some cancellations. One does not say no, others say nothing. But the SPD must clarify more than just personnel issues. There is much speculation these days about who could lead the SPD in the future. Boris Pistorius, Anke Rehlinger, Manuela Schwesig, Hubertus Heil - names are thrown into the ring, hats so far only a few. Defense Minister Pistorius and Saarland Prime Minister Rehlinger have already wavered. The current party leader Lars Klingbeil is strongly cautious. He believes that he can help the party in the difficult phase, he says recently in the ARD. But the Lower Saxony also emphasizes that he does not stick to his office. Klingbeil wants to consult with the board first. It should also be a question of exploring how much support there would be for a renewed candidacy for the Presidency. At the party congress in 2025, only about 65 percent of the delegates voted for him. For co-chairman Bärbel Bas, however, 95 percent. Hubertus Heil does not say no One who received much applause at that congress with his speech, although he wrote his party in the genealogy of being too boring and stew too much in his own juice, is Hubertus Heil. The former Minister of labour and ex-Secretary General of the SPD is considered a permanent rival of Klingbeil. Heil does not exclude a candidacy. Decisive, he said on Sunday in the report from Berlin, "what direction we go together and who the team is." One man alone will not make it. Because the tasks are big. Silent alone at the top? One who is quite trusted to make it to the top of the party with a team, but alone without a partner, is Manuela Schwesig. Whether she would run for presidency at all, however, is open. Before the state elections, she had declared that she wanted to remain prime minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the next five years. Openly also, what it could win at the party leadership, if the SPD must at the same time in the government coalition with the Union compromise. That there is a lot of encouragement for Schwesig is obvious for Juso boss Philipp Turmer. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, she showed that “social democratic content and a clear position on social issues can lead to surprisingly good election results.” More SPD, please A clear social democratic profile many comrades of the leadership want. And it is not just substantive positions. It is also about time for the party. For what concerns the people on the ground at the base. From the point of view of Juso chief Turmer, there is therefore much to be said for a separation of party leadership and ministerial posts. It is obvious that in addition to the government work, it is not possible to do what the members of the SPD want, he says in the ARD interview: "to make clear again what social democracy stands for beyond." Juso chief sees many blanks But the SPD must first clarify this for itself. There are many vacancies, says Turmer self-critical when it comes to strategic questions. Like the one for which it wants to fight as a classic workers’ party. And for whom. For the skilled workers in industry? Or rather for precarious employees and socially weak? A new policy programme is being worked on. Until the party congress in Bremen in mid-January, on which the SPD wants to reposition itself, however, it will not be ready. "I want us to be an SPD that does not remain in the status quo, that does not stick to the past," Klingbeil said earlier this year and decreed his party the courage to reform. It is about segregation of office, posts and the course how much courage the party has to redefine its own role is open. One thing is clear: much will be called into question at the party congress in January. Starting with the double top over the proportional to the question of dealing with women in the top management. They would have, says Juso boss Turmer, in recent years too often as a booby for frustration. It will be about segregation and posts. But above all about the future course of the traditional party – which stands and falls with the new leadership of the SPD.