SPIEGEL ONLINE: The SPD is relieved - despite a catastrophic result in Saxony and bitter losses in Brandenburg. Have you become too used to such results?
Scholz: No, we do not want to get used to doing worse in a poll than in the previous election. The result in Saxony is bitter. In Brandenburg, the SPD in the last few weeks, but again really gained after the polls looked very bad for a long time. At the end to become the strongest party with 26 percent, few had expected us. And that's good.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: And what about the result of the AfD?
Scholz: In both countries, the AfD has not become, as predicted, the strongest force. Still, that's terrible results. The AfD serves resentment and offers in response to the uncertainty of many citizens only nationalism and a return to the past. The big question for Social Democracy is: How can we get the right-wing populist parties, which have become strong in Germany as in other European countries, smaller again?
SPIEGEL ONLINE: You have some time ago to calmness in dealing with the AfD advised. Is this still valid?
Scholz: Yes, but clear words are always necessary. For example, about what the visit of the Brandenburg AfD leading candidate Kalbitz in a neo-Nazi demo in Athens means: Kalbitz deliberately seeks the proximity of right-wing extremists. There is no mercy.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: But hardly anyone seems to care.
Scholz: Nevertheless, our democratic public must not shrug, so we point out. At the same time, we should not do the right thing for the right and constantly talk about it. Instead, we need to talk about concrete issues and how to solve them. The election of Donald Trump as US President and Brexit are ultimately the result of the same phenomenon: despite the generally good economic development, many citizens are uncertain how they will continue in the future. We are facing a major upheaval, almost as at the beginning of industrialization. Although this has led to great prosperity, many felt worse at first. We are far from that far, but the uncertainty is growing. That's where we come into play as SPD. We have to enable security.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: How is that supposed to work?
Scholz: This is only possible with a good welfare state. With a state that allows education not only at the beginning of life, but over and over again, when in the middle of life one's career breaks away. As a party, we stand for the promise that no one will be left alone with his fate. This leads to concrete policies for the upcoming tasks, ie for the carbon leakage, the change in the automotive industry, the digitization in the administrative occupations and the changed distribution structures in retail. The SPD always gives a cosmopolitan and progress-open answer and does not begin to serve resentments now.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The AfD has at least in Brandenburg, very little competence in the field of social justice. So she was probably chosen for quite different things.
Scholz: I refer again to Donald Trump. Its social policy consists in the suggestion that a partition could help the American worker. That's a big mistake. But when a society leaves people who are afraid of change alone, they are looking for another way out. In this case, a policy as Trump operates. The same is true in my view, the vote of Britain for the Brexit. And in this country it tries the AfD with resentment against migrants.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is the grand coalition stabilized by the state election results?
Scholz: We should not draw hasty conclusions now. These were two state elections. But it is clear that the two leading government parties in Brandenburg and Saxony have done better than they were predicted, is good. How the coalition goes on decides on another question. We are currently writing a mid-term review. The coalition has brought many improvements, most recently the abolition of solos for the vast majority, for example, or the rental package. However, it will not only be about the balance sheet, but about what has yet to come in this legislative period. That's very clear.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What else has to come?
Scholz: It is certainly about two topics: There is once the basic pension. Many citizens have worked diligently in their lives and yet earned so little that they receive only a small pension. This is an unbearable condition, so we need a good solution. And, as a second theme, we need to focus more on climate change than we did in the coalition negotiations. We need a big hit in climate policy if, as a government, we want to continue to have the authority to lead the country. In the end, we have to be able to say that this is enough to enable us to achieve the climate goals we set for ourselves and that we have agreed on internationally. A small and small in climate policy does not help. We have to get away from a policy in which we do not dare to do the right thing, because we are too anxious about the possible reactions.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Your co-candidate Klara Geywitz has not made it to the state parliament. Should someone who does not insist on voters apply to preside over the SPD?
Scholz: The election result of Klara Geywitz is not nice, because she only missed 150 votes - but it is also an incentive. Because it shows that it makes sense to fight, because the distance to their green competitor was for a long time much larger. For the SPD chairmanship, Klara Geywitz and I have a common vision of how we as SPD can become so strong that we can successfully counteract the divergence of society.
photo gallery
9 pictures
SPD: These comrades want to become party leadersSPIEGEL ONLINE: The satirist Jan Böhmermann also wanted to run for the SPD presidency, but he failed in the statutes. Is the SPD too bureaucratic?
Scholz: No, the SPD is principled. For a long time now, we have had the principle that you enter where you live. We do not want flying Ortsvereine, where the members change quickly, sometimes to organize majorities, as happened in the Hamburg CDU in the postwar period. There is also the possibility for exceptions. But there the competent bodies must agree.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Did you take Böhmermann's announcement seriously?
Scholz: I do not know how serious he meant that. I would also like to know that from him. In the Ukraine and Iceland, satirists have been successful in politics recently; By the way, because they were serious. But I can look hard in Mr Böhmermann.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: There are now 23 regional conferences. Eight couples and a single candidate compete. How do you want to penetrate with their messages?
Scholz: I'm glad that there are these formats, I'm looking forward to the next weeks. Of course, that's a lot of candidates. But we can do what the Democratic presidential candidates can do. And, yes: Everyone knows that I like to explain my positions in more detail. But I can also keep me short.
SPD procedure for the party presidency
The schedule at a glance:
1st of July: Applications
From this day, teams of two or individual applicants may submit their candidacy for the SPD Chairmanship. For a candidacy they need the support of at least five sub-districts, a district or a national association.
September 1: Regional conferences
The application deadline ends. The candidates then present themselves in 23 regional conferences of the base. For five weeks, they can promote themselves among the members. The prelude is on 4 September in Saarbrücken, the final on 12 October in Munich.
October 14: Basic decision
The approximately 440,000 SPD members may elect their candidate or their team of candidates for the party leadership in a basic decision .
October 26: result of the membership vote
The result of the membership decision will be presented. If no candidate or double team receives over 50 percent of the votes, there should be a casting vote between the top two. The election is not legally binding , politically, the party congress is unlikely to pass the vote of the members.
December 6-8: Party Congress
The federal party convention of the SPD is coming together in Berlin. He should formally elect the winner of the membership decision to the SPD leadership - and decide on the midterm review of the Grand Coalition.
