Overview

• The SPD federal board is holding a two-day Klausur in Berlin to define near-term priorities on pensions, health and long-term care, as well as tax policy for high earners.
• National support has fallen to roughly 14–15 percent, heightening pressure on the party to show tangible progress this autumn.
• Lars Klingbeil is framing the party’s recovery around “growth and justice,” with safeguarding jobs set as the overriding goal.
• Raising the pension contribution assessment ceiling is under discussion, a step that won public support from CDU parliamentary manager Steffen Bilger.
• Internal tensions are intensifying over defense policy, including a new Wehrdienstgesetz that could enable conscription and Boris Pistorius’s push for greater military readiness, drawing criticism from the Jusos.