Overview
- SPD co‑leader and labour minister Bärbel Bas resigned after a family death and repeated personal attacks, and Alexander Schweitzer was sworn in as federal minister for labour and social affairs.
- The SPD presidium set a federal party congress for 16–17 January in Bremen to re‑elect the entire leadership but major candidates have not declared and internal debate over keeping a two‑person leadership continues.
- Recent polls show the AfD surging to roughly 30 percent in an INSA national reading while the CDU/CSU sits near 18.5 percent nationally and has fallen to about 23 percent in Baden‑Württemberg, now level with the AfD.
- In Saxony‑Anhalt the AfD’s Ulrich Siegmund plans to seek the minister‑president post in December and the state CDU’s decision to leave the chamber in early ballots reflects deep factional splits that could make a single defection decisive under secret ballots and simple‑majority rules.
- Senior CDU figures, led by Norbert Lammert, insist on keeping the party’s ban on cooperation with the AfD and Linke, a fight that will shape whether the AfD is contained or gains informal influence and that adds uncertainty to stalled coalition reforms such as the pension package.