Matthias Miersch is to take over as SPD general secretary

There is at least one thing you can still rely on in the SPD. When it comes down to it, someone from Lower Saxony has to do it. This time: Matthias Miersch.

The head of the SPD Left represents the Hannover-Land II constituency in the Bundestag – but according to the wishes of the SPD executive board, the 55-year-old will soon speak for the entire party: Miersch should succeed him as general secretary star-Information to follow.

According to reports, SPD parliamentary group deputy Miersch will take over the office on an interim basis until the next regular federal party conference in December 2025. According to party circles, there was unanimous support for the persion at the executive board meeting on Monday evening.

Now it was Matthias Miersch’s turn

Matthias Miersch has recommended himself as a specialist politician for higher tasks. The parliamentary group vice-president has been concerned with the issues of the environment, climate and energy for many years. His expertise is recognized, he is a sought-after interview partner and is considered a committed debate speaker.

Miersch is also one of four speakers for the Parliamentary Left (PL), one of three SPD faction groups. Nevertheless, he never made a name for himself by rebelling when the SPD had to accept painful compromises in government. That’s another reason why the next career step was only a matter of time – and yet it was a long time coming.

It was now Miersch’s turn. He has been sitting in the Bundestag since 2005, each time he has won his mandate directly in the Hannover-Land II constituency, most recently in 2021 against the then chairman of the Junge Union, Tilman Kuban. Miersch has been on the party executive board for eleven years and has led the SPD Hanover district since 2019 – and in this role presented former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder with a certificate of honor for 60 years of membership in the SPD in 2023.

Miersch has long been considered a possible successor to parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich, should he resign from office before the end of the legislative period. In the summer of 2022, Miersch even represented the parliamentary group leader in front of the press, but only because Mützenich was ill with Corona. Mützenich remained until today, although some criticism of his allegedly too Russia-friendly stance on the Ukraine war had deeply affected him.

So Miersch had to continue to be patient. Not for the first time. As early as 2018, after the negotiations on a Jamaica coalition failed, Miersch, who has a doctorate in law and criminal defense lawyer, was considered the justice minister of a grand coalition. This was not without a certain irony, because in the heated internal party dispute over the question of whether the SPD should join a coalition led by Angela Merkel for a third time, he made an unusual suggestion: If Miersch had had his way, they would have The Union’s Social Democrats were offered political cooperation, but renounced a ministerial post. He didn’t get very far with this idea. And it wasn’t enough for a ministerial post either.

In 2021 he had to wait again. Among the Lower Saxony Social Democrats, who are traditionally strongly represented in federal politics, Miersch had to give way to Hubertus Heil as minister. Boris Pistorius, Miersch’s second compatriot, is now in Olaf Scholz’s cabinet.

What role does the new SPD general secretary have?

After the surprising resignation of Kühnert Kühnert, the party chairmen Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken – who were said to have been informed about his resignation for a few days – announced a timely successor and wanted to make a proposal at the presidium and board meeting on Monday evening. That has now happened, and Miersch should do it. The personnel will be officially announced on Tuesday.

The post of Secretary General now gives Miersch the chance to further distinguish himself – in moderation. He will probably not be responsible for the federal election campaign, which is normally the classic area of ​​responsibility of a general secretary, but rather party leader Lars Klingbeil, who is also from Lower Saxony. According to reports, this will be decided at the SPD board meeting next weekend. Miersch’s job should be to have a calming effect on the nervous party.

He has proven elsewhere that Miersch can fight. As a young lawyer, he also took care of asylum cases. At the end of the 1990s, the desperate Bosnian Ahmetovic family turned to Miersch through the intervention of an acquaintance. She had fled to Germany to escape the Balkan wars and was now afraid of deportation. Miersch fought – with success. Adis, the Ahmetovics’ youngest son, born in Hanover, was just four years old at the time. At the age of 15 he joined the Jusos and happened to meet comrade Miersch at an event for new members. Today both sit together in the SPD parliamentary group, Ahmetovic represents the neighboring constituency of Hanover I. “Without Matthias Miersch, there would have been no life for me in Germany,” says the now 31-year-old.