Federal election: SPD wants to start catching up

Six weeks before the federal election, the SPD wants to prepare for the hot phase of the federal election campaign at a party conference with the election of Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz and the adoption of its election program. The Social Democrats want to become the strongest party again, but are currently 13 to 20 percentage points behind the leading Union in the polls and are also in third place behind the AfD.

Combative speech from the Chancellor expected

In his party conference speech, Scholz wants to convince the 600 delegates to catch up. It can be assumed that the planned relief for taxpayers and companies, the no to pension cuts and the intended increase in the minimum wage are included. But foreign policy is also likely to play a role. Scholz recently defied future US President Donald Trump and reminded him of the inviolability of borders in response to his desire to expand into Greenland, Panama and Canada.

Candidate selection by show of hands

Scholz was nominated as candidate for chancellor by the party executive at the end of November only after a tough and controversial debate. The party had previously discussed publicly for two weeks whether the much more popular Defense Minister Boris Pistorius should be substituted as a replacement candidate for Scholz, who was ailing after the failure of his traffic light government.

The decision in favor of Scholz will now be confirmed with a show of hands at the party conference. There should not be a secret vote, as was the case with many previous decisions for candidates for chancellor. The party leadership justifies this by saying that Scholz is running as chancellor and not as a challenger and that in these cases it is customary to decide “by acclamation”. Before the previous election in 2021, 96.2 percent of delegates voted for Scholz in an online vote during the corona pandemic.

Election manifesto: “More for you. Better for Germany”

In terms of content, the SPD wants to position itself for the election on February 23rd with a 63-page program entitled “More for you. Better for Germany”. In it, the party promises to relieve the burden on 95 percent of taxpayers. At the same time, the SPD wants to reach out more to those who have a lot of money: super-rich people with assets of over 100 million euros should pay a wealth tax.

For more investments in electricity and heating networks, charging stations and housing construction, the SPD wants to set up a so-called Germany Fund from which investments and loans will be financed. The SPD is also planning a “Made in Germany” bonus: investments in machines and equipment should be supported with ten percent of the purchase price through a tax refund.

Juso initiative: No more than 400 euros for shared rooms

More than 90 amendments have been submitted to the draft. For example, the Jusos want to ensure that students and trainees do not have to pay more than 400 euros for a room in a shared apartment. According to the youth organization, the application committee agreed on Friday evening to include a corresponding passage in the program. “We have the most concrete proposal in the field of political competition for the urgently needed relief for students and trainees when it comes to housing costs,” said Juso boss Philipp Türmer to the German Press Agency.

Someone has to stay outside

International guests and, as always, former party leaders are also invited to the party conference. However, someone has to stay outside again. Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who is friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has no longer been welcome at SPD party conferences since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.