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SPD leader Saskia Esken with Secretary General Lars Klingbeil at the end of September's election campaign
Photo: via www.imago-images.de / imago images / Political-Moments
The SPD leadership wants to clarify their future party leadership this Monday.
The acting chairmen Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans would like to submit a proposal to the board in the morning.
The 69-year-old Walter-Borjans has already announced his retirement, while the 60-year-old Esken wants to compete again.
It is expected that it will remain with a dual leadership and that Secretary General Lars Klingbeil will also apply.
Esken had already announced in advance that it would be able to imagine a dual leadership with the 43-year-old.
She has been working closely with the SPD general secretary for many years, said Saskia Esken on Monday in the ARD.
Klingbeil is an "architect of the renewal of the SPD" and she values him very much.
"In this respect, it's a constellation that I can very well imagine." As the campaign manager, Klingbeil played a decisive role in the SPD's victory in the federal elections.
Walter-Borjans also agreed
The outgoing SPD chairman Walter-Borjans had also publicly identified Klingbeil as a suitable candidate for the party chairmanship.
When asked whether he could imagine Klingbeil as the new party leader, Walter-Borjans told the editorial network Germany: "Of course I can. Saskia Esken and I and Lars Klingbeil work closely together."
Walter-Borjans and Esken have been the party's chairmen since December 2019, and Klingbeil has been Secretary General since 2017.
Most recently, Esken was also acted as a minister in a traffic light government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
Of course that would have been exciting too, said Esken on ARD.
But in the past two years she had "shown effectiveness" as party leader and would like to continue to hold this office.
The SPD leadership is to be elected at a party congress from December 10th to 12th.
lukewarm / dpa