In North Rhine-Westphalia there will be elections on Sunday and the SPD has a clear goal in mind: it wants to form the government. Your top candidate Thomas Kutschaty advertises with his connection to the chancellor’s office. The party leadership gives him momentum for this. But Scholz has other concerns.
A group of people is standing on the small square in front of Kaufland in Essen Borbeck. The local workers’ welfare organizations have set up a tent from which they distribute cakes and bratwurst. On a few stone steps is a group that has translated “All you need is love” from the Beatles into German. So you sing: “Please with a lot of heart.” And then again “Heart, heart, heart”.
It’s a classic street campaign event. In North Rhine-Westphalia there will be elections on Sunday. The top candidate of the SPD, Thomas Kutschaty, walks through the rows of beer benches and distributes information booklets with his face on them. For him it is the most important weekend of his political career. After all, he has the chance to become prime minister of the most populous federal state.
The brief conversations that Kuchaty has are about low pensions and high rents. An elderly lady asks when the next relief will come. Kuchaty wants to take care of it. He is already in talks with Berlin, he says to FOCUS Online. Berlin, that’s his trump card. Again and again, the SPD candidate advertises with his wire in the federal government, in the chancellor’s office. Kuchaty knows that he doesn’t win elections with heart. But with money. And that is first and foremost in the federal government. If Scholz didn’t have completely different construction sites.
On Friday, all SPD celebrities will come to Cologne to support their top candidate. The popular Prime Ministers from Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland Malu Dreyer and Anke Rehlinger; Party leader Lars Klingbeil, his Secretary General Kevin Kühnert and of course: the Federal Chancellor.
A high-profile final that shows how important this election is for the SPD. NRW is the most populous federal state. The heart of German industry. And NRW has six votes in the Bundesrat. With them, Scholz would no longer need the Union for large federal projects. Quite apart from the tailwind for the traffic lights.
A year ago it would have been hopeless to even send a top candidate into the race. The SPD stood at 17 percent in the polls. After the general election, the Social Democrats temporarily managed to get 30 percent, ahead of the CDU. They’re just behind. Nevertheless: Düsseldorf is within reach.
According to a current survey by the NRW daily newspapers, people have two main concerns: the security and affordability of energy and inflation, which can be felt through significant price increases.
Kuchaty knows that. He has made more than 300 campaign appointments in the past few weeks. Most of them on the street. That’s why he’s talking about better pensions, higher wages and lower rents on Friday. “The government is doing something about the high prices. But that’s not enough, “says the NRW politician and calls for a third relief package. The crowd cheers. That’s exactly what they need now. And Kuchaty promises them a direct line to those who can make it possible.
Not only that. The party leadership from Berlin also attests to his proximity: “You need a government that works with Berlin,” advertises party leader Klingbeil. And Scholz later added: “Thomas Kuschaty, you can count on me there.” Through the flower: An SPD-led NRW would be preferred to a CDU-led NRW. That’s not very clean. But the Union did the same for years and did an excellent job with it.
The question that arises, however, is: Does Scholz really listen when Kuchaty calls from NRW? In his speech, the Chancellor first talks about Ukraine. This has been the norm for the past few weeks. “Revanchism and imperialism should not determine reality in Europe,” Scholz calls out. He talks about the humanitarian aid, justifies arms deliveries and complains about his phone call with Putin. It takes a while for Scholz to address the consequences of the Ukraine war, which are also making themselves felt in this country.
Everyone is currently feeling the price increases. “That’s why I say: We made a conscious decision to launch two relief packages.” A third package, as requested by Kuchaty, is not something Scholz is going to say. He only says that the situation will be monitored.
In the end, Kutschaty may be able to put pressure on NRW. And as Prime Minister he would certainly have a more direct line to the Federal Chancellery. However, how Scholz will prioritize was shown in his speech on Friday. He spoke for a good quarter of an hour about Ukraine and international politics. Five minutes were left for everything else.
