The SPD has these days to answer trendsetting questions: Who make the comrades to their new top duo? And what about the Grand Coalition - do you really want to leave the alliance with the Union?
Both questions and of course the answers are related. And Kevin Kühnert is a central player in both.
Although Kühnert himself has renounced a candidacy for the SPD chief, the party looks at him - this is at least as true for his opponents as for his followers. Not least, the support of Kühnert's Young Socialists has Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter Borjans carried in the ballot. And when it comes to GroKo, the junior team is at the top of the critics.
From Friday on, the Jusos in Schwerin will meet for their federal congress. The re-election of Kühnert is scheduled for the first evening. Anything but a clear confirmation would be a big surprise. Kühnert has made the Jusos of a ridiculed consortium to a power factor in the SPD. The young Social Democrats are strongly represented in important state boards, which paid off in the nomination of Walter Borjans and Esken in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example.
Kuhnert, the SPD has shaken up vigorously in recent months. Now, however, the question arises as to how things should continue for the man whom some see in the SPD as the bearer of hope, the others as a tormentor. The 30-year-old has announced his intention to run for the party executive in December.
However, not as Secretary General, as he told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". Kühnert's opponents in the party had scattered over the past few weeks, there was already an agreement with Walter Borjans and Esken, the post was the Juso boss already promised. He himself calls this "conspiracy theories" and says: "If you were seriously interested in this question, I would have heard a clear no from me at any time."
So Deputy Party Chairman? That does not exclude Kühnert. Esken and Walter Borjans would have to win for that. Because Olaf Scholz makes one of his harshest critics a vice, is unlikely.
For Kühnert's career, however, a victory by Scholz and Klara Geywitz does not necessarily have to be harmful. Its importance as a representative of the left-wing camp could then even grow. Even more than a victory for the GroKo-skeptics Esken and Walter-Borjans.
Kühnert's new caution
The Juso boss does not want to know about such scenarios. "Politics is team sport, and with the entry into the SPD we all decided to go relay and hammer throw," he says. In the face of the ongoing decline of the SPD, he refuses to think so tactically: "We have to make a real start, and I would like to do that with Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans.
And the Vice Chancellor can not stand for this new beginning, says Kühnert: "Olaf Scholz himself emphasizes that he is not renewal, and we both agree."
Socrates Tassos / FUNKE Photo Services
Norbert Walter-Borjans and Kevin Kühnert: "We have to make a real start now"
The vanguard over the vice-chancellor shows Kühnert's new caution in the fight for party chairmanship. He has noticeably held back in recent weeks, at least publicly. Kühnert seems to be aware of his increased responsibility for the party. In the case of a victory of Scholz / Geywitz, it would be crucial for him to prevent a split in the party.
Among other things, out of concern for a too strong polarization Kühnert had even waived a candidacy. In it he sees himself confirmed. Esken and Walter-Borjans can probably also mobilize a larger part of the party - which shows the support of more conservative comrades such as Duisburg Lord Mayor Sören Link.
The head of the SPD National Association Schleswig-Holstein joins the challengers: "We have the opportunity to decide between two strong teams," says Serpil Midyatli. It is important that now as many members participate in the election. "My vote goes to Esken and Walter Borjans," says Midyatli. "They convinced me as a team."
"We must stop avoiding conflicts"
Kühnert says he sees his role in being "a constructive and credible opponent of a next-to-course". He is not concerned with an eruption or even a revolution - "step by step" Kühnert wants to change the course of the party.
He succeeded in doing so already in spring with the welfare state concept. The departure from Hartz IV was long disputed in the party leadership. On the side of the former SPD leader Andrea Nahles and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's prime minister Manuela Schwesig Kühnert put the plan through. Meanwhile, the concept in the SPD as a consensus and should be decided at the party congress by a large majority.
Kühnert has even more plans. The Jusos want to enforce that the SPD is committed to the abolition of all sanctions for Hartz IV recipients. This encounters resistance and could lead to conflict at the congress. For Kühnert this is not a problem: "We have to stop trying to avoid conflicts, but now sometimes have to decide such questions, so that they do not get in the way during the next election campaign and offer orientation to our members."
"All in all" it should go to the Juso meeting in Schwerin. These are the motto and the leading motion of the Federal Congress, which outlines the climate, social and economic policies of the Jusos. But also in the question of power - where is the mother party headed? - Kühnert's youth organization goes all out.
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