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Peer Steinbrück Rebukes SPD as Directionless, Urges Welfare and State Overhaul

He says the governing coalition must show leadership to restore public trust.

Overview

  • He portrays the SPD as inward-looking and off course, arguing the party prioritizes conference choreography over direct engagement with voters.
  • He warns against trying to assemble majorities from "legitimate minority interests" such as cannabis policy, naming law, sex determination and identity politics, which he says are not decisive for most voters.
  • He calls for consolidating hundreds of social benefits into standardized lump sums processed on a nationwide digital platform.
  • He presses for broad state modernization through digitalization, bureaucracy reduction, and infrastructure and education upgrades, praising Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger as a strong addition to the cabinet.
  • He faults the government's lack of conflict capacity, urges the Union–SPD coalition under Chancellor Friedrich Merz to deliver to avoid a democracy trust problem, and condemns the newly passed pension package as materially, financially and procedurally wrong.