“Now it’s over with politics”
SPD politician Michael Roth announces resignation
March 26, 2024, 12:07 a.m
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Michael Roth sits for the SPD in the Bundestag and is chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He has been campaigning for arms deliveries to Ukraine for months. But this will be over by next year at the latest. Then he wants to turn his back on politics, explains Roth – and gives the reasons for this decision.
The SPD member of the Bundestag Michael Roth is leaving politics next year. The 53-year-old announced this in one go “Stern” interview at. The reason is alienation from his party and the political world. “I’ll do it until the federal election. After that I’ll be out,” explained the politician. “I no longer have the bite. I feel an inner distance from the company. Now politics is over.”
Roth, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee since 2021, spoke of a gradual process of alienation from the SPD. He said he was a passionate social democrat. “But over the last year I’ve noticed that I’m becoming more and more unfamiliar with our meetings, that the committees and the atmosphere in them are bothering me. When the door to the parliamentary group room opened, I had the impression that I was climbing into a refrigerator.”
Roth continued: “Sometimes I felt like a foreign body.” The truth is that he strongly advocated his views publicly, but neglected to talk to colleagues. “In this respect, I also share responsibility for the alienation.”
Criticism of party leadership – and Strack-Zimmermann
In the “Stern” interview, the Social Democrat also criticized the party leadership for what he saw as the wrong way of dealing with the Chancellor. “Both the party and the parliamentary group have actually subordinated themselves to him,” said Roth. “It all depends on the Chancellor. In times when you can’t please everyone, that’s simply too much to ask. Politics is a team game, not a one-man show.”
He also accused FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, with whom Roth had vehemently campaigned for arms deliveries to Ukraine for months, of harming the Chancellor. “I’ve always based my criticism on the matter at hand. I think it’s wrong that she often turned it into a personal criticism of the Chancellor. What I also resent her for is that not everyone who voted against the Union proposal on Taurus is scaredy-cats or bunglers . She gave that impression.”
Roth, who took a few months off in 2022 due to mental exhaustion, also spoke bluntly about the rigors of political activity in the “Stern” interview. “If you pursue top-level politics today, you almost have to give up completely,” said the Social Democrat. “It’s brutal. Today, top politicians just have to survive every day.” Roth said: “I am sure: Willy Brandt would no longer be able to become Chancellor today.”