SPD Chief Lars Klingbeil Admits Party’s Failures in Economic Policy
SPD chief Lars Klingbeil has acknowledged his party’s failures in economic policy. At the latest, after the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling on the budget for the autumn of 2023, the SPD-Green government should have set new priorities, Klingbeil told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (Thursday edition). “Ensuring the industrial location should have been a top priority much sooner” he said.
At the same time, Klingbeil advocated for the state to take a hard line against black labor by recipients of social benefits. The SPD’s goal is to get people into work, he explained. “And that’s why I’m very clear that it can’t be the case if someone receives a state benefit and then takes a step back or works black. I want the state to react harshly in these cases” he said. “Who can work – and I say explicitly can – must work.”
Klingbeil also warned of the need for more fairness towards social benefit recipients. Hundreds of thousands of people are in the social benefit, even though they went to work. These are often single mothers. That’s the real scandal, if someone works and still doesn’t have enough money and therefore needs the state’s support. “You can’t say in general that someone who receives social benefits is lazy” the SPD politician said. “I find that populist.