The candidate for the SPD presidency, Klara Geywitz, has accused Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) of wanting to wear down her opponents through sleep deprivation. "In Angela Merkel, carry-over of decisions and sleep deprivation are a means of politics," said the co-candidate of Olaf Scholz the "Bild am Sonntag". "But it does not fit into the present day that almost every coalition committee lasts until dawn and politicians then announce with very small eyes their supposedly ingenious compromises that they meet at 5 o'clock in the evening, which is better and healthier."
Geywitz said: "This grand coalition must be the last, so the SPD has to become so strong again that there are majorities beyond the Union." In order for the current government alliance to work better with the Union, Geywitz called for a new style of politics and an end to the night-time long-term negotiations. "This tough struggle over months, like the land rent, annoys people, and the grand coalition has to become faster and overcome rituals.
The coalition committee to solve the months-long dispute over the introduction of a basic pension, however, meets this Sunday already this morning. Geywitz is running for the SPD presidency together with Olaf Scholz. The two are in a run-off election against former North Rhine-Westphalian Finance Minister Norbert Walter Borjans and the member of parliament Saskia Esken.