Overview
- SPD leaders Bärbel Bas and Lars Klingbeil rejected resignation calls and convened a broad crisis meeting to lock in a reform plan that Klingbeil says will demand sacrifices.
- On ZDF’s Maybrit Illner, Tübingen mayor Boris Palmer called this the “last chance” and urged a Spring of Reforms as guests outlined a tight schedule for changes to care, health, the federal budget, and pensions by early summer.
- The Bundestag approved new fuel rules that allow only one daily price increase at noon and give antitrust officials more power to make oil firms justify hikes, while a ZDF poll found 73% back a temporary cut to fuel taxes and levies.
- SPD Bundestag leader Matthias Miersch set fairness as the yardstick for reforms, proposing faster specialist appointments for public patients, lower nursing‑home co‑pays, and tax relief for low and middle earners.
- The push comes after steep SPD setbacks and clear voter shifts to the AfD, with post‑election data showing many workers and younger voters moving right, raising the cost of further delay.