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Candidacy for SPD chairmanship: Better than Klingbeil
Hubertus Heil challenges Lars Klingbeil. The former labor minister is no Zohran Mamdani, but he has more of a finger on the pulse of the SPD than the incumbent. more...
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H ubertus Heil challenges Lars Klingbeil as SPD leader. This is good news for two reasons: Until the weekend, one had the impression that this personnel question was to be clarified in advance in Klingbeil style in the notorious “committees” behind closed doors. Now Hubertus Heil, ex-General Secretary and ex-Minister of Labor, is forcing other candidates to also show their colors by taking the offensive - and thus also the Klingbeil, who has been maneuvering around until now. Manuela Schwesig will also have to speak out soon - or another woman will have to take the co-head position.
Hubertus Heil is also associated with a content-related announcement. There is great dissatisfaction in the SPD that Klingbeil sees the party as an appendage of the government wing, in which only the Juso leader is allowed to interfere from time to time.
After all these years in government, the SPD has degenerated into a functionary machine that sees politics as processing matters, as ticking off bullet points. With Hubertus Heil and a co-leader (N.N.), who after Bärbel Bas will definitely not be a minister, there is a chance that the SPD will become more independent and get more drive in terms of content.
The taz is an independent, left-wing and opinionated daily newspaper. We have been arguing in our comments, essays and debate texts since the taz was founded in 1979. We often cannot and do not want to agree on an opinion. That's why you'll find some completely opposing positions here - all part of the very broad left-wing spectrum of opinions.
That's right, there have been party leaders who are not part of the government with Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, and they were not very successful. But Heil is popular at the grassroots level, even on the left. He knows every local club and the power plays and pitfalls - and he can be a rousing speaker.
Heil has been sitting in the Bundestag since 1998 and doesn't exactly represent a new departure? That's true too. But the official SPD party can't have an Elif Eralp or a Zohran Mamdani - it's not a fresh movement party with grassroots vibes. Until a miracle occurs and that is the case, salvation would be a pretty good choice.