2024-08-23 03:33:10
Before the 2020 state election, there was not much to see from the federal SPD in the election campaign in Hamburg. On the Elbe, they wanted to set their own accents. With Chancellor Olaf Scholz, that could change in 2025.
Despite poor approval ratings for Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), party colleague and mayor Peter Tschentscher wants to rely on his predecessor’s incumbency bonus and the traffic light policy in the Hamburg election campaign. “He is a very good chancellor,” Tschentscher told the German Press Agency about Scholz, who was Hamburg’s mayor until 2018. In the coalition with the Greens and FDP, it is difficult “to organize politics as harmoniously as people would like,” said Tschentscher.
Agreements with the Chancellor for the state election campaign were still missing. “As a government, we have to do our job. That’s why the election campaign is starting late for me. There are no concrete dates or practical plans yet,” said Tschentscher. In Hamburg, the state parliament will be re-elected at the beginning of March 2025. Federal elections will then be in September.
During the election campaign, one can point to many correct decisions made by the federal government, said Tschentscher. He cited refugee policy as an example: “Never has so much happened there as in the last two years.” There are now controls at the German borders, more consistent repatriations and agreements with EU member states to control migration at the EU’s external border. In terms of the topic, he sees no need to differentiate himself from the traffic light coalition in other areas either. “Hamburg, for example, supports the federal government’s policy on climate protection and investments in renewable energies.”
Annoying errors such as those made in the first draft of the so-called Heating Act were also corrected with the involvement of Hamburg. “In other words: There is sometimes criticism of the way the traffic light coalition works in Berlin. Then we also lodge an objection in the Bundesrat. At the same time, however, we work well together with the ministries on many projects.” This could be referred to in the election campaign.