Kevin Kühnert has been confirmed in office as Juso chairman for another two years. The 30-year-old Berliner competed at the Federal Congress of the SPD Young Investigators Organization in Schwerin without a counter-candidate and received with 264 out of 298 almost 88.6 percent of the votes. Thus he improved the result of his first election in 2017, when almost 76 percent of the delegates had expressed confidence in him.
Kühnert is considered a critic of the grand coalition in Berlin. Under the applause of the approximately 300 delegates, he reaffirmed his ambitions for a seat in the new SPD federal executive committee. "We have said that we want to take responsibility in the SPD, we want it to rejuvenate and that it will become more diverse, so far not so terribly much to see," stated Kühnert. But he left open whether he - as previously expressed in interviews - seeks one of the influential representative posts.
Kühnert reaffirmed the support of the Jusos for Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans in the race for the SPD party leadership. With the positioning for the left candidate Duo the status quo of the SPD and the status quo of the large coalition should be questioned. "We want the SPD to come out of the neoliberal Pampa and credibly feed it with faces," said Kühnert.
Swipe against Kramp-Karrenbauer: "Piefig, submissive, extortionate"
He was in favor of preparing a red-red-green alliance in talks already. It was important to "overcome the leaden gravity of the everlasting grand coalition". The red-red-green coalition, which has already been tried and tested on the state level, is also desirable at the federal level, because it will solve the current political blockade. Twice there have been red-red-green majorities in the past 15 years, which twice but was not used criminally. "We want these majorities to emerge again, but we only have one shot left," said Kühnert.
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All his dislike for the grand coalition Kühnert showed in a side blow against the CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. First, he quoted quasi literally from the defense minister's speech at the parallel CDU party congress: "If you think that this path, which I want to go with you, is not the path that you think is the right one: then let it go Let's say it today, let's end it today. " Just to add, "I am sappy and happy not to have to address such stubborn, submissive and extortionate words to my association."
Kramp-Karrenbauer had surprisingly asked the vote of confidence at the end of her party speech. The CDU delegates responded with standing applause for a few minutes. SPIEGEL editor Markus Feldenkirchen calls this in his video analysis of the congress as "the most tired standing ovations since the invention of standing ovations".