Frontal attack from the Jusos: The SPD is simmering and Klingbeil is trying to cover it up

One of the main people responsible for the SPD's historic election defeat is climbing the next career ladder. SPD leader Klingbeil also wants to lead the parliamentary group. This offers him the chance of rehabilitation. But resistance is brewing.

"Chutzpah" is a beautiful Yiddish word that in German describes impudence in a trivial way. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has chutzpah. But from the point of view of parts of the party, simply impudence is a better description. The SPD has had a devastating election result. One of those primarily responsible has announced personnel consequences - but at the same time is reaching for a powerful double role: Klingbeil wants to be elected as the successor to SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich on Wednesday and remain party chairman. His comrades have taken note of this with some disbelief. The 47-year-old must prepare himself for loud criticism in the parliamentary group meeting and for an "honest" result - in other words, for rather modest approval ratings.

The uprising is reliably coming from the bottom left: from the young people organized in the Jusos. Their chairman Philipp Türmer told "Spiegel" about Klingbeil's application: "This approach created the fatal impression: As a first reaction, one of the architects of the failure is reaching for the chairmanship of the parliamentary group." The election campaign was "a complete stumbling block" and the nomination of incumbent Olaf Scholz as candidate for chancellor was a mistake "in terms of process and outcome". The responsibility for the defeat in the federal election lies with the party leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil, stressed Türmer.

But the rest of the party leadership appears to be behind this approach. The personnel decision is the SPD leadership's response to the threefold challenge that comes with the federal election result: "Programmatic and personnel renewal [...] ruthlessly and with complete clarity," promises Klingbeil, also knowing about the frustration within the party. Secondly, the venerable SPD must not be allowed to fall apart over this renewal. Not shortly before the promising Hamburg state election next Sunday, not shortly before the exploratory talks with the Union about a possible formation of a government. Because that is the third challenge: In the absence of other majorities, the SPD actually has no other choice than to make Friedrich Merz chancellor and govern with the CDU and CSU.

Party must quickly sort itself out

The grand coalition, which is a small one given the relatively narrow majorities, will be the real test of the SPD. This applies to the coalition negotiations as well as to the period afterward. In future, the Social Democrats will be able to push through even less of their own policies than in the traffic light coalition, and at the same time they will have the Greens and the Left breathing down their necks as opposition parties. If the party does not show its united strength, it will neither be able to negotiate a coalition agreement that is acceptable to it nor will it be able to strengthen its profile in government.

Klingbeil has made it his mission to create the necessary unity. The motto is to lead the party and the parliamentary group "from one source". Things are simmering in the SPD and Klingbeil has to be careful that it doesn't boil over. Klingbeil is the personification of the lid with a pressure hole through which the steam can escape in a controlled manner. If the lid rattles, Klingbeil is willing to accept it. But there is a risk that Klingbeil himself could be harmed. He may have to give up the parliamentary group chairmanship once an agreement on a coalition government has been reached.

A competitor named Pistorius

However, it is not certain that Klingbeil will receive a ministerial post as compensation. The SPD will give at least half of its cabinet posts to female Social Democrats, and Boris Pistorius is expected to apply for the SPD ministerial ticket for men from Lower Saxony. The incumbent Federal Minister of Defense is extremely popular among the population, and also among the top members of the Union.

But Klingbeil does not want to lead the party only until Easter, when the new federal government is to be formed according to the Union's vision. He wants the SPD to be a "party of work, a party of the state capable of taking action and a party that is attractive to young people," said Klingbeil the day after the election. Anyone who sets such clear goals cannot have meant themselves with the "generational change" announced on election night. Klingbeil also makes it clear that the Union must convince the Social Democrats to participate in the government, not the other way around. "It will be exciting to hear how Friedrich Merz envisions cooperation with the SPD."

Esken also wants to continue

The rifts between the Union and the SPD deepened over the weekend, says Klingbeil. He now has to drive up the price of participation in the government. He has to credibly convey to the Union's negotiators that his party does not want to continue to govern at any price. At the same time, Klingbeil must not incite the expected grand coalition opponents in the SPD to campaign for a move into opposition. "Whether the SPD will enter a government is not certain," stresses Klingbeil. Anything is possible, let the Union come first, the SPD doesn't have to do anything! But Klingbeil must make up for the loss of trust in his person in the coming weeks if his claim to leadership is to last.

Incidentally, Saskia Esken, as co-leader, did not feel addressed by the announced generational change in the SPD. The new federal executive board is not normally decided until December. When asked, she said she intends to "continue" to hold office. However, the party will not accept that the popular former parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich will now have to serve as a pawn. "It has become very clear that all this will not be done with a single personnel decision," Klingbeil assured. How many and which personnel decisions will "do it" is something that the Social Democrats will be busy considering in the coming days and weeks.