The SPD’s working group on migration and diversity has criticized the appointment of the party’s internal program committee. This committee is intended to lead and coordinate work on the new policy programme. “It is almost shameful that the federal SPD, in 2026, establishes a programme committee in which expertise on diversity and migration is hardly anchored” said Orkan Özdemir, the deputy chair of the working group, to “Der Spiegel”. He also noted a clear lack of voices that can politically situate structural discrimination from personal experience.
Özdemir, who serves as an MP in the Berlin House of Representatives, questioned how such an important topic could be omitted. “This sends a false signal to members: that a significant part of the party is neither seen nor heard” he said.
He added that many SPD members have migration backgrounds or work in integration, and that this knowledge influences the everyday success of integration. “It must not be represented only indirectly in the policy programme” he warned.
According to Özdemir, the party leadership bears responsibility for setting the SPD’s priorities. When integration is treated merely as a subsidiary issue, “you underestimate the political dynamics of the coming years”. He said integration is “already a power and order issue”. The SPD should not leave it to other parties to shape the debate.