After the SPD’s electoral defeat in Rhineland-Palatinate, party leader Lars Klingbeil is sticking to his office and has made a comprehensive income tax reform the central condition for the reform negotiations with the Union. “There will be no reform package for us that doesn’t include this,” said Klingbeil on the ntv show “Pinar Atalay”.

The aim is that “people who work for three or four thousand euros a month get noticeable relief.” At the same time, he made it clear: “That also means that the top earners in our country take responsibility.”

Klingbeil referred to rising everyday costs and growing uncertainty among many employees. “Life has become more expensive for ordinary people in this country,” he said.

Klingbeil: Merz “doesn’t have to worry about me”

“Sometimes just the fact that a washing machine breaks down means that many people find themselves in dire straits.” The SPD will therefore conduct “very tough negotiations” with the Union: “We want to ensure that people who toil every day have more money in their pockets – and we will fight for that now.”

Despite the “catastrophic” election results, Merz “doesn’t have to worry” about his coalition partner, said Klingbeil. “I didn’t get the impression that he was worried about me. That would be nice if he did. And it would be humane. But you don’t have to worry about me.” Instead, the government now has “a difficult job to do.” This includes the reform package.

It happened in the party headquarters the morning after Election slap from Rhineland-Palatinate gave the clear opinion “that in the phase in which this country is currently, given the challenges that the country has to overcome, we now want to determine the future not by exchanging heads, but by taking a clear programmatic and strategic course.”