SPD: Saskia Esken and Wolfgang Thierse are on the phone

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Wolfgang Thierse

Photo: Simone Kuhlmey / imago images / Pacific Press Agency

Former Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse and party leader Saskia Esken spoke on the phone for around half an hour on Wednesday afternoon.

Esken had sought contact after a public dispute over the party's direction.

The trigger was an invitation from Esken and party vice-president Kevin Kühnert to an internal party discussion.

In it, both had shown themselves "ashamed" of party representatives who painted a "backward-looking picture of the SPD".

This probably meant Gesine Schwan's role in a panel discussion, but above all a guest article by Thierses in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

In a letter to Esken, Thierse then asked to inform him publicly whether his "remaining in the common party would be desirable or rather harmful".

He had doubts when two members of the party leadership "distance themselves from me."

"I'm glad we picked up the thread of the conversation and that we have agreed to keep talking," Esken told SPIEGEL.

“For us, Wolfgang Thierse is without a doubt a deserving Social Democrat, and nothing would be further from me than to distance myself from him.

Together we stay in exchange on social democratic paths for a society that overcomes discrimination and exclusion and combines respect for diversity with a culture of common ground. "

At the end of the phone call between Esken and Thierse on Wednesday, according to SPIEGEL information, there was no clear agreement on how to proceed.

Both sides explained what they are about.

Thierse emphasized that it was not about him, but about the political culture in Germany, about social democracy and its future, it said.

Esken is said to have emphasized that she did not specifically mean Thierse with her statements to the queer community.

It was her aim to send a signal to the affected community.

Thierse still assumes that he was primarily meant.

After the public distancing from Thierse and Schwan, the former President of the Bundestag now expects a public signal from the party leaders.

It is unclear whether there will be further talks or even a meeting.

Esken also asked Gesine Schwan for an interview.

This should take place in the evening.

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