With the 2024 budget up in the air, the Social Democrat conference will focus on critical issues, such as immigration. What will Chancellor Soltz say?
Without any surprises, the three-day conference of the German Social Democrats started this morning in Berlin with the motto “Germany. Better. Fair.” As expected, SPD co-chairs Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil, as well as general secretary Kevin Kinnaert, were re-elected unopposed with over 80%.
The tough times for Chancellor Solz come tomorrow, on the second day of the conference, when he will be called upon to address the 600 members of the Social Democrats in attendance without yet having provided a solution to the 17 billion euro deficit in the 2024 budget. The SPD leadership is in favor of of the suspension of the debt brake next year as well, opposes the social cuts and the limitation of public investment demanded by the co-ruling Liberals and is in favor of increases in taxation. It is possible that the congress will impose positions on the chancellor, which will make negotiations between the governing coalition parties more difficult.
Solz’s positions on immigration are divided
The historic decision of the Constitutional Court completely overturned the economic planning for the coming year of the coalition government of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals, triggering the demand of the German Conservatives for an early appeal to the polls.
Shortly before the start of the conference, the SPD youth strongly criticized the deadlock in negotiations between the co-ruling parties on the budget. “The fact that a decision on the 2024 budget is not possible before the end of the year is a stumbling block for all those affected by the crisis,” Juso president Philipp Thirmer told the German news agency dpa, adding: “The governing coalition had the opportunity to prove that it maintains freedom of movement, giving citizens a sense of security in the final stretch to Christmas.”
The second thorny issue of the conference is immigration. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s recent statements in Der Spiegel magazine that “mass deportations of those who do not have the right to stay in Germany should begin” had provoked intense internal party reactions, mainly on the left wing. That is why the party leadership is expected to propose a compromise, which provides, among other things, support for the controversial rescue of refugees in the Mediterranean and facilitation of the reunification of refugee families in Germany.
Source :Skai
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