The German SPD seeks to recover votes with a social and green program

The German Social Democracy is struggling to soar in the just under eight weeks remaining until the decisive general elections on September 26, which mark the end of the Angela Merkel era after 16 years in power.

The SPD, now a minority partner of the government coalition with the Chancellor's conservatives, launched this Wednesday the main slogans to boost its campaign, with the presentation of a program with social measures to reconnect with the workers and win over the middle classes, and which underlines the importance of the fight against climate change with a view to contesting the ground with environmentalists.

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Although the goal is to win the elections, the polls distance that option, which clearly places the Christian Democrats ahead of Merkel's CDU and her Bavarian sister party, the CSU.

But the SPD has in its sights to snatch at least the second position from Los Verdes, which would give it the option of trying to lead a government coalition.

To achieve this, in addition to betting on social democratic essences, the party focuses on its candidate, Olaf Scholz, and his government experience.

Current vice chancellor and finance minister, although of little charisma, polls show that voters recognize his managerial skills.

The campaign slogan is “

Scholz packt das an

” (Scholz tackles or copes with the task) and the party emphasizes that its candidate is the most competent leader to fill the post of chancellor.

“There are 53 days until the elections.

Little by little on the ground we realize that people are beginning to ask themselves: who should succeed Angela Merkel, after 16 years in power? ”Asked the General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Lars Klingbeil, rhetorically when presenting the campaign .

"More and more people recognize that we have the candidate for chancellor who provides the greatest competition," he added to reaffirm the option of highlighting Scholz, whose valuation rose with the economic measures against the pandemic, rather than the party.

The SPD, Klingbeil explained, promises a minimum wage of € 12 per hour (now it is € 9.60), rents at affordable prices by building 400,000 new homes a year and effective climate protection that focuses on innovation. and create new jobs and retirements that guarantee a dignified old age.

Faced with the proposal of the Greens to create a super ministry of climate protection, Scholz affirmed on Twitter on Wednesday that "climate protection will be promoted by the Foreign Ministry", to underline that the challenge of global warming will be a central issue for the future. Government.

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Scholz, who was Secretary General of the party with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (1998-2005), Minister of Labor between 2007 and 2009 in Merkel's first Cabinet, and successful Mayor of Hamburg (2011-2018) until he assumed the Finance portfolio , has managed in recent weeks to take over the leadership in the symbolic direct duel between the candidates for chancellor, according to a Forsa poll published on Tuesday by the RTL and NTV networks, which would grant him 21% of the votes in a hypothetical direct election , compared to 18% of the ecologist Annalena Baerbock and 15% of the conservative (CDU) Armin Laschet.

Disengage from the Union

Although the position in Germany is not chosen directly, since the vote is for the party, the SPD wants to take advantage of the good poster of its candidate, who has been several weeks ahead of his rivals Laschet and Baerbock. However, support for training has not quite taken off. "People are realizing that you need someone with a clear plan who knows how to do it," Klingbeil encouraged. The Social Democrats reach a voting intention of between 16% and 17%, while the conservative CDU / CSU bloc (known as the Union) is around 28% and the Greens move between 20% and 21%.

"We still have to do much better," admitted Klingbeil, who avoided comment on possible post-election alliances, in which the Liberals also aspire to be present (now with 10%).

"Our goal is a government with Olaf Scholz at the helm" and "without the [Christian Democratic] Union," he declared.

"The focus is increasingly on the question of which of the three [applicants] can actually do it," insisted the SPD secretary general.

"Those who vote for Laschet and the CDU will be voting for policies that make the rich richer and the poor poorer," says a video of the SPD, which is launched against the conservatives after participating in this mandate in a coalition in which reluctantly entered and that he considers that it has cost him support.

The hot phase of the campaign will start on the 14th in North Rhine-Westphalia, precisely the federal state that governs the candidate of the CDU. The party also plans to close the rallies in that region on September 24. "It is our essential land," argued Klingbeil. The region with the largest population (18 million inhabitants) was the fiefdom of the Social Democrats until Laschet seized power from them in 2017.

The reissue of the grand coalition with Merkel has not favored the SPD - according to the polls - in a stage marked by the retreat of the traditional parties and the rise of the ultras of Alternative for Germany. The decline of the SPD, which began with the controversial labor market reform and cuts under Schröder, worsened until it recorded its worst result since World War II in 2017 with 20.5%. Two years later, the party reinforced the most left wing with a new leadership against the centrist Scholz, which has not prevented it from seeing him as its best electoral option.