Actor and entertainer Hape Kerkeling is scheduled to attend a closed-door strategy session of the SPD parliamentary group in Berlin this Thursday. Kerkeling, who is 61, will deliver a keynote address centered on the question: “Is everything a matter of opinion? Where tolerance in a democracy has its limits and what needs to happen now.”
Dirk Wiese, the SPD parliamentary group’s First Parliamentary Secretary, informed media outlets from the Funke Group that the meeting will address how to overcome societal divisions and how to view compromises as a way to achieve unity. He emphasized that this requires radical solidarity against exclusion promoted by the far right. Wiese expressed that the group was delighted to invite Kerkeling, noting that Kerkeling recently gave a deeply personal speech at the Buchenwald memorial where he stressed how crucial a tolerant, open, and cohesive coexistence is, and how widely his appeal for the preservation of democracy was received.
During the two-day meeting, which takes place shortly before the first session week following the summer recess, the SPD parliamentary group will also discuss the future of work. Federal Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) is set to lecture on the “World of Work 2035,” while experts will debate the impact of artificial intelligence on employment and the labor market.
To open the session, group leader Matthias Miersch and Vice-Chancellor and SPD leader Lars Klingbeil will provide a briefing on the current political situation. This report is expected to focus primarily on the three upcoming state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, as well as the intensive phase of reform consultations within the ruling coalition.
