Lars Klingbeil: Portrait of the most powerful man in the SPD

Berlin. At first glance, the matter is not clear: After the defeat in the federal election, the SPD needs to renew itself, says party leader Lars Klingbeil. It sounds as if he wants to resign - as someone who is partly responsible for the miserable result.
But instead of giving up one position, Klingbeil is now taking on another: on Wednesday he wants to be elected head of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag. This was agreed on the evening of the election in the party presidium. It was Klingbeil's 47th birthday.
The political scientist from Munster in Lower Saxony, the FC Bayern fan and amateur guitarist, will thus become the most powerful man in the SPD. And in a coalition with the Union, he would be the second central figure after Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU).
Klingbeil has a certain degree of control over this: he is taking over the negotiations for the SPD. This is not an easy task. The SPD is not particularly enthusiastic about a renewed coalition with the Union. However, there is only one other option - a government of the CDU/CSU and AfD. The Union has rejected this, but the SPD wants to prevent it at all costs.

The RND newsletter from the government district. Every Thursday.
By subscribing to the newsletter I agree to the advertising agreement .
Even before the negotiations, even before a first conversation with Merz, Klingbeil made an announcement: The CDU leader had recently "made the rift with the SPD deeper rather than shallower," he said, referring to Merz's last election campaign speech in which he ranted against "green and left-wing nutters." The Bundestag vote on migration policy, in which the Union was helped to gain a majority by the partially right-wing extremist AfD shortly before the election, is still having an impact on the SPD.
The outrage is genuine. For Klingbeil, it probably also serves as a negotiating element. Klingbeil appears friendly and conciliatory to the outside world. But the Union complains that the SPD leader can be quite rude. And he would hardly have been able to rise in the party he joined at the age of 18 if he had been friendly alone.
Klingbeil had early contact with federal politics in the party: As a student, he worked in the constituency office of the then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He became deputy head of the Jusos, entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2009 and dealt with digital and defense policy. Klingbeil has often emphasized his closeness to the Bundeswehr; his father was a professional soldier.
The rise began in 2017: SPD candidate for chancellor Martin Schulz made Klingbeil general secretary after his election defeat. After the formation of a Jamaica coalition between the CDU/CSU, the Greens and the FDP failed, Klingbeil oversaw the entry into a grand coalition, against massive resistance from within the party. When party leader Andrea Nahles resigned in frustration two years later, Klingbeil organized the competition for her successor. Every crisis in the SPD was followed by a plan, and Klingbeil always gave the impression of calm.
And at least one thing succeeded: the previously divided party leadership closed ranks. After the 2021 election, Klingbeil took over the party chairmanship and continued to rely on public unity in the duo with his co-leader Saskia Esken. He dosed his criticism: he repeatedly called for better communication from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
Then the traffic lights broke - and the fault lines became clearer. For days, Klingbeil and Esken let the debates about the candidate for chancellor continue. Would you rather have incumbent Scholz or Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the poll king? Klingbeil presented himself as a prudent manager and said that it was necessary to give the party room to discuss things. Scholz didn't look any better. And Klingbeil had clearly distanced himself from the chancellor, practical in the event of an election defeat.
Now the SPD leader has pushed himself even further forward. Some in the SPD felt taken by surprise. Juso leader Philipp Türmer complained in the "Spiegel" that it made a fatal impression that "one of the architects of the failure" was reaching for the chairmanship of the parliamentary group as his first act after the election. The spokesman for the Parliamentary Left, Tim Klüssendorf, also criticized the approach on ARD. In substance, however, the step was "not wrong at first". The SPD must be able to act quickly, explained Klingbeil. The Union is pushing for a quick start to negotiations and wants to be through by Easter.
The party and parliamentary group executives unanimously supported Klingbeil. The fact that the previous parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich, a representative of the left wing, recommended him may have helped. Klingbeil can thus face Merz with particular strength, authority and consistency, says Mützenich.
It is unclear whether his time in the parliamentary group will be a transition. Klingbeil is said to have ambitions for a ministerial post. If he were to take on the defence portfolio, Pistorius would be left behind.
If nothing comes up, Klingbeil could take on another job in the next election: that of candidate for chancellor. One thing could help him: Klingbeil won his constituency of Rotenburg I – Heidekreis by a clear margin, with the best direct election result of all SPD MPs.
rnd