After a series of sharp election defeats, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder urges the SPD to adopt a bold reform programme inspired by his own Agenda‑2010 model.
“I have neglected the economy and focused too much on side issues” Schröder told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Wednesday edition) in Hannover. “What the country really needs now is a new agenda, but that can only succeed if the SPD tackles it with genuine will and courage”.
He argues that agreeing to revisions only with grudging assent and in tiny steps is the wrong path. Previously, the Social Democrats were the drivers of social progress and were bolder. “We must now urgently revisit the question of retirement age, because the last major pension reform was 20 years ago” he said. The party should no longer habitually feel guilty when carrying out reforms.
Schröder also recommends abandoning the double‑leader system. “The dual leadership is nonsense, and I would abolish it again” he said. “That may work with the Greens, but an organisation like the SPD needs clear leadership”. In that context he called for strengthening Vice‑Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, whom he described as “without a doubt a good man”. Co‑chairwoman Bärbel Bas was not mentioned.
He claims that the SPD at the federal level lacks a life‑oriented politics. “The SPD is still strong wherever it has clarified that governing is a matter of everyday reality, not just programmatic reality” Schröder noted. “I must engage with that everyday reality of those who elected me and who will elect me in the future”. This creates an entirely different understanding of politics than when one sees it merely as drafting and implementing one’s own programs.
Schröder recalled his statement on the evening of the 1998 election: the country is more important than the party. “That is the core message the SPD needs to internalise again today. Politics is not about oneself, but about the nation”. A sentiment he also heard recently from Cem Özdemir in Baden‑Württemberg, although he believes this understanding has unfortunately slipped away within the federal SPD.
