For the first time, a woman is at the head of the SPD in Rhineland-Palatinate. Bätzing-Lichtenthäler is elected with a large majority – and charts the course until the state elections in 2026.
The Rhineland-Palatinate SPD also elected its state parliamentary group leader Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenthäler as party leader with a large majority. The 49-year-old from the Westerwald received 98.98 percent of the delegate votes at the party conference in Mainz. She is the first woman to hold the office and, for the first time in 30 years, combines party and parliamentary group leadership in one person. The SPD has been the largest governing party in Rhineland-Palatinate for 33 years.
The new SPD leader wants to develop the program for the 2026 state elections in a multi-stage process with the members. “The highlight will be a congress in 2025,” she said before her election. “We are right in the middle of the people and issues.” The participation process should be designed based on this spirit.
Sven Teuber from Trier was elected deputy party chairman. The 41-year-old member of the state parliament received 90 percent of the 260 votes cast. Bätzing-Lichtenthäler had previously held the post, so the election had become necessary. Neither had any opposing candidates. Deputy party leaders are also Prime Minister Alexander Schweitzer and Finance Minister Doris Ahnen.
Bätzing-Lichtenthäler: With Lewentz it was always “we before the self”
Roger Lewentz did not run again after twelve years as party leader. The 61-year-old was named the party’s second honorary chairman after Kurt Beck at the party conference. With Lewentz, the “we came before the me,” said Bätzing-Lichtenhtäler. With him there was no difference between the person and the politician.
The total of around 450 delegates and guests said goodbye to Lewentz and former Prime Minister Malu Dreyer with long applause and signs saying “Thank you Malu!” or “Thanks Roger!” stood. Dreyer was made an honorary member of the party.
Her successor Schweitzer thanked Dreyer for always choosing Rhineland-Palatinate and not going to Berlin, even as acting federal party leader. In difficult situations, everyone always looked to Malu and she always made things right for everyone, reported Schweitzer, who was most recently a minister under her. She was very warm, but also strict and determined.
Dreyer wants the SPD to improve in the federal government
“You have supported me for 29 years,” said Dreyer (63) to the SPD members. Roger Lewentz and she have always been able to rely on each other and she is sure that things will continue like this with Schweitzer and Bätzing-Lichtenthäler. “We are a strong SPD,” emphasized Dreyer. She wished SPD federal leader Lars Klingbeil, who spoke as a guest at the party conference, “that things will improve for the SPD in the federal government.” Former Prime Ministers Kurt Beck and Rudolf Scharping were also in the hall.
In her speech before the election, the new SPD leader announced that she wanted to win more members and get more women interested in SPD politics. Commitment to the party needs to be made easier so that anyone who has to make school sandwiches in the morning, then drive grandma to the pharmacy and pick up the children from soccer in the evening can also take part. “We also want to show the people who want to join us that they can join in from the first minute.”
Bätzing-Lichtenthäler: SPD should make its positions clearer
What the SPD stands for needs to become clearer, emphasized Bätzing-Lichtenthäler, who is also the parliamentary group leader in the state parliament. “We stand for fair wages.” This means that the skilled worker must be able to afford a sufficiently large apartment with his wife and children.
Educational equality: The bus driver’s son must have the same educational opportunities as the professor’s daughter, “and a Yussuf who comes to us needs more support than a Sören, then he will get it.” The party core needs to be clearer: a minimum wage of 15 euros, for example, and the reintroduction of the wealth tax.
Bätzing-Lichtenthäler: “If the AfD gets power, it will abuse it”
Bätzing-Lichtenthäler emphasized that the SPD remains “the bulwark against fascism.” Thuringia shows, “if the AfD gets power, then it will abuse this power. Never again is now!” The AfD with its right-wing extremist networks is also dangerous in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Around a million newcomers lived in Rhineland-Palatinate. “You belong to us, you stay with us. You are our neighbors and friends,” emphasized Bätzing-Lichtenthäler. “Anyone who is being persecuted politically will find protection with us.” But not everyone who wants to can come. However, the SPD’s path of humanity and order in Rhineland-Palatinate works better than in other federal states “because we are taking it together.”
Klingbeil: Pension package is the cornerstone of the coalition in Berlin
In his welcoming speech, Klingbeil emphasized the importance of the minimum wage, pension reform, industrial jobs and Germany’s cosmopolitanism. “The pension package is one of the cornerstones of this coalition,” said Klingbeil, referring to the federal government. “We firmly believe that people who have worked hard all their lives need a decent pension.” The SPD is the only party that is fighting for stable pensions. “But we will enforce it, there is no wobbling.”
With its plans to stabilize pensions in Germany in the long term, the traffic light has its next big conflict ahead of it, as the FDP demands corrections.
Klingbeil praises the traffic light government in Rhineland-Palatinate
At the traffic lights in Rhineland-Palatinate, things are much easier than in Berlin, said Klingbeil on the sidelines of the party conference of his “favorite state association”. “I have a great interest in things going better in Berlin.” In Rhineland-Palatinate, things could be agreed upon in a trusting manner and what was agreed upon would be implemented. Rhineland-Palatinate also shows how industrial jobs could be saved.
Schweitzer would like to see more Wissing and less Kubicki in the FDP
Schweitzer said: “I hope that the traffic lights in Berlin will regain their strength.” The federal coalition still has “so much ahead of it.” He would like to see “more Volker Wissing and less Wolfgang Kubicki” in the FDP.
Schweitzer demanded that the course be maintained on the pension issue. “What’s discussed is discussed.” He also expects the reliability that the SPD in Rhineland-Palatinate exemplifies in the traffic lights in Berlin.
CDU General Secretary Steiniger congratulates Bätzing-Lichtenthäler
The new Rhineland-Palatinate Secretary General Johannes Steiniger congratulated Bätzing-Lichtenthäler on his election. “We are now looking forward to the democratic competition for better concepts until the state elections in 2026.” In his view, pressing issues are: better childcare, more teachers, secure medical care in rural areas and priority for internal security.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
