Scholz swears SPD in for tough election campaign
Published: Saturday, Nov 30th 2024, 13:50
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Around three months before the Bundestag elections, the Chancellor and SPD candidate for Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has committed his party to a race to catch up in the election campaign. In his first major election campaign speech to around 500 party members in Berlin, he saw the election on February 23 as a decision on the direction between a "back from here" conservatism of the CDU/CSU and the SPD as a "force of the center" in Germany, which stands for "common sense".
"Now it's about the big picture," said Scholz in his hour-long speech, for which he received long applause. If you take a wrong turn now, there will be serious consequences. He would give his all for the country and the Social Democrats over the next 85 days. "Let's remember our strength: don't complain, do it. Fight together," he said at the end of his speech. "If we fight, we will win. Friendship."
SPD wants to leave candidate dispute behind
Scholz was unanimously nominated as candidate for chancellor by the party executive on Monday. This was preceded by a two-week debate on whether the much more popular Defense Minister Boris Pistorius should be substituted as a replacement candidate for Scholz, who is in political trouble following the failure of his "traffic light" government. With the "election victory conference" in Berlin, to which candidates and their teams were invited, the party now wants to put the dispute behind it and look to the future.
Scholz has set himself the goal of making the SPD the strongest force in the Bundestag again - as it was three years ago. However, it is currently 16 to 22 percentage points behind the CDU/CSU in the polls. There are only 85 days left until the election on February 23 to catch up.
Attack against Lindner: government work "systematically sabotaged"
Scholz began his speech with attacks on FDP leader Christian Lindner, whom he had fired as finance minister at the beginning of November, thus sealing the end of the traffic light coalition. In serious times, Germany needs serious politics and "no gamblers and no gamblers". Lindner and his FDP had "systematically sabotaged" the work of the traffic light government for months. "They actively wanted to prevent this federal government from being successful," said Scholz. "Something like this must never happen again in Germany."
Four key points for economic growth
Scholz named four points that he wants to promote during the election campaign in order to get out of the economic crisis: Securing industrial jobs, especially in the hard-hit car industry; cheap energy for the economy; increased investment in infrastructure; combating the shortage of skilled workers. To enable investment, Scholz wants to reform the debt brake.
Scholz campaigned for a further increase in the minimum wage and said that stable pensions and affordable housing would only be possible with the SPD. He emphasized that the traffic light government had made great progress in the fight against irregular immigration.
"You don't play Russian roulette with Germany's security"
Scholz also wants to score points in the election campaign with his dual strategy in the Ukraine war. On the one hand, he assures Ukraine of continued arms deliveries, but at the same time wants to prevent NATO from becoming involved in the war with Russia. This is why he is refusing to provide the Taurus cruise missiles that Kiev has been demanding for a long time. "You don't play Russian roulette with Germany's security," emphasized Scholz. "I remain steadfast and level-headed, you can rely on that."
25.7 percent in the last election
Scholz's candidacy for chancellor still has to be confirmed at the party conference on January 11. This is considered a formality. However, Scholz must be measured against his result from May 2021 - a good four months before the general election. Back then, he was confirmed with 96.2 percent of the vote.
At that time, the SPD was polling between 14 and 16 percent, as it is today. It was only when the Union's candidate for chancellor, Armin Laschet, laughed in the flood area, which was seen as inappropriate, that things turned around in the summer: The SPD finally became the strongest force with 25.7 percent.
Klingbeil: "We are a party for the race to catch up"
Party leader Lars Klingbeil called on the SPD not to be influenced by the polls. "Don't listen to the polls, don't listen to the articles that are being written now," he said. "If the SPD can do anything, it is to fight. We are a party for catching up."
The first glimmer of hope for Scholz and the SPD came today with an Insa poll commissioned by "Bild". According to the survey, 22% of people in Germany would now vote for Scholz directly as chancellor - up 7 percentage points compared to the previous week before the candidate selection. Union candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz is still ahead with 30 percent (minus 1), while Green candidate for chancellor Robert Habeck slips to 16 percent (minus 2) and thus to third place. However, the SPD is still 17 percentage points behind the Union (15 percent to 32 percent) in the Sunday Bundestag poll.
©Keystone/SDA
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