Walter-Borjans to give up SPD chairmanship – Scholz will not be his successor

by Thorsten Koch
GermanPolicy.com

The SPD’s candidate for Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, does not want to succeed Norbert Walter-Borjans as chairman of the SPD. This was said correspondingly by SPD circles and by Scholz himself. Scholz, dwelling in Rome, said the SPD would in time find consensus on the future of the party executive. First of all, Scholz would like to concentrate on the formation of a government and, subsequently, on the chancellorship.

Walter-Borjans was elected together with Saskia Esken in 2019, after having run against Scholz. He will not run again for the SPD chairmanship in December this year. In an interview, Borjans mentioned that he had intended to get the SPD “on track.” He helped shape the SPD for two years, but now, “younger people should do it,” Walter-Borjans encouraged. Incidentally, he is of the opinion that no member of the new government should take up the SPD chairmanship.

Expressions of gratitude by Esken and Scholz

SPD co-chair Esken, who is interested in continuing her office, commented: “Dear Norbert, I am infinitely grateful to you for the time we spent together.” Esken positively emphasized that her colleague had dared “this adventure.”

Scholz, on his part Federal Finance Minister, thanked Walter-Borjans, a former North Rhine-Westphalian Finance Minister, for “trusting cooperation and support.” Whether there will again be two co-chairs or whether everything should come together either at Esken or a new SPD chairman remains unclear, for the time being.

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