Saskia Esken has called for a reversal of her party's labor market policy in her application speech for the SPD presidency. Germany is one of the largest low-wage sectors in Europe, said the 58-year-old at the Federal Party Congress of the SPD in Berlin.
The SPD contributed to this low-wage sector being created. "It's time for us to turn back," she demanded. "We were the party that Hartz IV introduced, we are the party that overcomes Hartz IV". That was a much too long chapter. "I want every human being to be able to work from his hands." Otherwise, the people of the SPD no longer believe that they are the focus of their politics.
Esken will be elected at the party conference together with the former NRW Minister of Finance Norbert Walter-Borjanszur new dual top of the Social Democrats. The members of the party have already pronounced majority for the duo.
On the state of the Alliance with the Union she said: "I was and I am skeptical about the future of this grand coalition". But: With the SPD-Leitantrag there is "a realistic chance of a continuation - no more, but not less".
In her speech, Esken presented herself as a representative of ordinary people. "I have not forgotten where I come from." She worked as a parcel courier and behind the counter and only later trained as a software developer, she emphasized.
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