After AfD Victory in Saxony-Anhalt, Senior SPD Figures Demand Changes to Coalition Reform Course

The AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt has prompted senior Social Democrats to turn their criticism toward the federal government’s reform agenda. Alexander Schweitzer, an SPD deputy leader and former premier of Rhineland-Palatinate, said the government had played “no small part” in the election outcome.

Speaking to Deutschlandfunk, Schweitzer said federal issues may have been decisive for many voters in Saxony-Anhalt. He called for the planned pension reform, agreed by the CDU and SPD at federal level, to be reconsidered. The pension commission’s proposals should return to the agenda, he said, including the question of what is fair in relation to people’s contributions.

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Such proposals must not receive support from the SPD.

Schweitzer said pensions needed to be “clear and secure”. In his view, the current proposals could mean people receive less than they had previously earned through their work. “Such proposals must not receive support from the SPD,” he said.

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Clear and secure.

He argued that the central problem did not lie with the SPD but with the CDU’s conduct over the summer. Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz had alienated many people during the reform debate through remarks Schweitzer described as clumsy, though not accidental.

Dirk Wiese, the SPD’s parliamentary executive manager, made a similar argument in an interview with ARD’s morning program. He said Merz’s rhetoric had created the impression that the chancellor considered working people “lazy”, adding that this had caused considerable uncertainty. Wiese said issues such as pensions and care were important to voters and that the government needed to offer answers addressing everyday life. He also called for special support for people who had performed extremely hard work.

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Lazy.