By Christian Dörmann
No, she had not planned her political career. But when her party slipped to an all-time low of 12.7 per cent last year, the decision suddenly had to be made. After the electoral defeat, people said the party needed more social justice and more emotion again. “That is exactly what suits me,” is how Leni Breymaier describes her mood at the time. Since October 2016 she has been chair of the SPD in the state, succeeding the unlucky and colourless Nils Schmid.
A woman who wears her political convictions and her heart on her sleeve, plus an election in North Rhine-Westphalia that could prove fateful for the SPD and its lead candidate Martin Schulz for the federal election in September: actually the best conditions for great public interest, yet the launch of the “Talk im Econvent” series with Leni Breymaier and EZ editor Alexander Maier attracted only a few people to Ritterstraße.
Down from the prepared stage “to the people” – there you sit at eye level in a small group. That makes it more personal. The evening focused not on hard political facts but rather on the human aspects and the very successful attempt to understand Leni Breymaier’s actions. Given her trade union commitment, it is not surprising that, like Martin Schulz, she has made social justice her cause. She was deputy chair of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) in Baden-Württemberg and then regional head of Verdi before taking on the top political post. And then, of course, there are her family roots. Born in Ulm, she grew up as the youngest of four siblings. “You have to assert yourself sometimes,” says Leni Breymaier. Something like that sharpens not only your awareness of your own goals but also your tongue, which the SPD state chair occasionally has trouble keeping in check. She says so herself, which is why she has practised “not saying everything that is on the tip of my tongue”.
Speaking with one voice
She deliberately cultivates her Swabian dialect, as well as plain speaking. What she does not like at all is when her party speaks with different voices on important issues. “We have to be clear in our positions, otherwise we lose credibility.” And if her party pulls together, then despite the recent defeat in Schleswig-Holstein she looks forward to the vote in North Rhine-Westphalia this Sunday “calmly and confidently”. The SPD will remain the strongest party, she hopes for a good result for the Greens and would have nothing against the Left Party as a partner in government “provided the coalition agreement is right”.
Leni Breymaier radiates just as much confidence with regard to her own state, where the SPD is currently levelling off at 20 per cent. And looking ahead to this year’s federal election, she believes her party colleagues in Baden-Württemberg are quite capable of achieving a state result of around 26 per cent.
Alexander Maier asks whether the party would then once again start discussing who should carry such a success profitably into the future. Leni Breymaier thinks little of personal vanities and all the more of clear political paths and party unity. And she believes in approaching things with both feet on the ground. A topic that Alexander Maier raises again and again with skilful questioning. Don’t politicians often lack the experience of what it means to work “with their hands”? Leni Breymaier’s reaction is somewhat vague. Of course you have to keep in mind “that there also has to be someone who sells the bread rolls”. But you don’t have to have done everything. Here one would have wished for a somewhat sharper tongue. In the end, however, she sums up the recipe for staying grounded in her own inimitable way: “You just have to make sure you’ve got ordinary people around you.”
The next date in the “Talk im Econvent” series is 17 September. At this matinee event, actor Walter Sittler will be in conversation with Alexander Maier.
Source: Eßlinger Zeitung