SPD's South-West faction gains strength following Esken's departure
In a recent reshuffle of the German government, Lars Klingbeil was appointed as the new Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister, while Rita Schwarzeluhr-Sutter was named a State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment. However, Saskia Esken, the co-chairwoman of the SPD, was not included in the federal cabinet.
Despite her high party office, Esken did not receive enough support to become a minister in the German government. The party leadership and coalition negotiations favoured diversity and newer political figures, leading to the selection of Reem Alabali-Radovan, a younger migrant politician, for the federal cabinet post related to development aid.
The outcome reflects internal party dynamics and strategic decisions by the SPD leadership to refresh its cabinet representation. Esken’s lack of a ministerial appointment is therefore explained by such political considerations rather than a lack of formal standing.
Saskia Esken is based in Calw, Germany, and is a member of the Southwest SPD. She is not known for her rhetorical brilliance, but has played a balancing role in the traffic light coalition. Some supporters of Esken would have liked to see her in the cabinet.
In addition to Klingbeil and Schwarzeluhr-Sutter, Katja Mast is a state secretary in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, and Nils Schmid, former party leader and Minister of Economics and Finance from 2011 to 2016, is a state secretary in the second row. State secretaries are important for substance-level work and serve as a link between MPs and the ministerial administration.
The Southwest SPD will remain without a minister for another four years. Building networks and personalities is important for a better position in future government formations. Rafael Binkowski can be contacted at r.binkowski@our website for more information.
There have been discussions within the Southwest SPD about Esken's competency, but no direct information in the sources states other specific reasons for the lack of support for Esken’s ministerial prospects beyond these political and personnel choices within the SPD cabinet formation process in 2025. A Staatsanzeiger subscription is required to subscribe to topics and save articles.
Management decisions regarding the composition of the German federal cabinet were influenced by policy-and-legislation considerations, politics, and general news, as evidenced by the selection of Reem Alabali-Radovan over Saskia Esken, despite Esken's high party office. The latter's lack of a ministerial appointment was due to political considerations, such as the prioritization of diversity and new political figures.
