Berlin Saskia Esken wants to remain SPD party leader for two more years. She decided to renew her “application for the highest party office”, Esken told the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”.
“I see my task in modernizing the SPD, strengthening its historically grown values and developing social democratic ideas and positions from this with the members and in exchange with society,” Esken continued.
Last Friday, Esken’s co-chairman Norbert Walter-Borjans announced that he would no longer run for chairmanship at the SPD party conference in December.
Esken and Walter-Borjans started as a team for the party chairmanship in 2019 and, after their surprising victory in the membership decision against Olaf Scholz and Klara Geywitz, formed the first SPD dual leadership.
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Walter-Borjans and Esken are credited internally, Olaf Scholz was elected chancellor candidate and the SPD has again ordered more unity. In parts of the party, however, the two are still not really accepted as party leaders.
Parity becomes more difficult
Esken had also given a lot of attention to the topic of digital education during the corona crisis, for example holding an education summit with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Many in the SPD had therefore expected Esken to become Minister of Education in the new Scholz cabinet. The new dual leadership would then be formed by the previous SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil and the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig, many comrades expected.
With a change of Esken, the SPD would have solved another problem at once: there are not many SPD women who come into question as ministers. However, Scholz had announced that the SPD ministerial posts would be filled equally with women and men.
Walter Borjan’s withdrawal had increased the pressure on Esken to explain himself soon. The problem: The three traffic light parties only want to clarify the allocation of ministerial posts at the end of the coalition negotiations. However, that would be very shortly before the SPD party congress in December.
Klingbeil and Esken could work well together
Esken cited the direction her party took two years ago as the main reason for her decision to remain at the top of social democracy and not seek ministerial office: “Norbert Walter-Borjans and I have achieved a lot in the past two years. The SPD is united, successful and strong as it has not been for years. I would like to continue on this path. “
The fact that Esken decided against a ministerial office and in favor of the party chairmanship could also be due to pressure from the party left, according to the SPD. If Esken and Walter-Borjans both withdrew from the party leadership, this would significantly weaken the left wing, so the fear.
Esken should now form a double leadership with their previous Secretary General Klingbeil, who has already openly shown interest in the party chairmanship and whose candidacy should be allowed soon.
Esken and Klingbeil are politically different. While Esken belongs to the left wing of the party, Klingbeil belongs to the business-friendly Seeheimer Kreis in the SPD. But you have already worked closely together as party leader and general secretary for the past two years.
The future chancellor should be able to live well with Esken as party leader. Esken had withdrawn strongly in the election campaign in favor of Scholz and refrained from cross shots. In any case, no one would argue Esken about the party leadership. A boss who brought her party the election victory and the chancellery is not chased from the court.
More: SPD leadership duo: successful and yet failed