European election debacle
SPD struggles with itself – Weil supports Scholz
17.06.2024, 07:46
The Chancellor has “the trust of the SPD,” says Prime Minister Weil. Olaf Scholz has been under criticism since the disastrous result in the European elections. Social Democrats are calling for a course correction. And the next big test is just around the corner.
The Chancellor’s party, the SPD, is struggling to find the right course after the debacle in the European elections. Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil backed Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He believes that he should be seen as the “undisputed number one” of the party. “Olaf Scholz really has the trust of the SPD, and I see no alternative at all,” said Weil on the ARD program “Report from Berlin” on Sunday. He feels that “all relevant parts of the SPD” agree “that we will go into the next election campaign with Olaf Scholz – but hopefully on a much better basis than was the case this time.”
It makes no sense for the party to publicly quarrel now, Weil warned. It is more like after a lost football match: “You have to speak frankly to each other in the dressing room, but then go out onto the field as one.” The SPD only received 13.9 percent of the vote in the European elections, its worst result in a nationwide vote.
After the election, several SPD politicians called on Scholz to be more proactive in promoting the core concerns of the Social Democrats in the traffic light coalition. Thuringia’s state party leader Georg Maier criticized failures in the party leadership and in the Chancellery. The SPD must “urgently clean up its own backyard in order to be more popular with voters again,” Maier told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). On Sunday, leading SPD politicians met for a special meeting of the party presidium to discuss the consequences. The results are not yet known.
Budget becomes a test
Maier also called for his party to focus more strongly on “the working middle class.” These people have been badly hit and unsettled by the crises and are wondering who represents their interests. This is particularly true in eastern Germany. “It is no longer possible to explain to anyone why the social gap between East and West is still so wide 34 years after reunification,” said Maier. “The SPD has failed to address this social imbalance in Germany.” He has been appealing for some time “urgently to the party executive and the Chancellery to finally take action,” said Maier. “But so far without success.” He does not understand “why the SPD does not put the question of justice on the political agenda. That is our DNA.” In Thuringia – as in Saxony and Brandenburg – a new state parliament will be elected in September. In recent polls, the AfD was well ahead of the CDU, while the SPD was in the single digits.
Weil went on to say that what needs to change is the cooperation within the traffic light coalition. People are overestimating “what a Chancellor can actually do in a situation like this, where coalition partners (…) do not always show the necessary level of constructiveness.” The three coalition parties are now facing a very difficult task. “And if they are wisely advised, they will agree on a common course.” Scholz also urged the red-green-yellow coalition in interviews at the weekend to pull together after the poor results of the traffic light parties in the European elections. He also called for a willingness to cooperate in the negotiations on the 2025 budget.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s budget plan is due to be presented on July 3. The FDP leader is insisting on a strict austerity course in order to comply with the debt brake. After the setback for the traffic light parties in the European elections, the success of the budget negotiations is a real test for the coalition. The Bundestag then usually discusses the budget in the autumn.
Demand for more investment
Meanwhile, the SPD left is putting pressure on the government to prevent cuts in core areas that are particularly important to it. The SPD group Forum Democratic Left (DL21) decided to initiate an internal party member petition for “a federal budget for 2025 (…) that bears a social democratic signature,” according to a statement on Sunday.
“We want to ask whether the SPD should agree to a budget cut,” said DL-21 co-chair Jan Dieren to “Spiegel”. “In times when democracy is under pressure, prices are rising and many can barely afford to live, it is wrong to save,” warned the SPD member of the Bundestag. “On the contrary: the state must invest massively.”
“We need investments in internal security, i.e. strengthening our police and security authorities, an efficient armed forces and strengthening social security,” said deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Achim Post to the newspaper “Welt”. This includes, for example, investments in stable pensions, good health care and the fight against child poverty. He therefore welcomed the proposals from the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) and the German Industrial Association (BDI) to set up a special fund for state investments in climate protection and infrastructure.
The Green Party’s parliamentary group also expressed its support for the proposals from the business community. It is calling for investments in the hundreds of billions, especially in new climate protection technologies, infrastructure and competitiveness, as quoted by the newspaper. The FDP, on the other hand, rejects additional loans. Budget spokesman Otto Fricke referred to the current legal situation, which requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag and Bundesrat for a new special fund that complies with the constitution.