Andrea Nahles is visibly euphoric, as she begins at the radio station in Berlin to the closing words: "We have to talk about us again as we are: namely sharp!", The SPD boss calls: "Ass up, teeth apart" - that's it the motto, "fight for the SPD, have fun with it".
Anyone who has experienced Nahles in the past few weeks, almost does not recognize it again. On this day, at the end of the SPD's two-day debate camp, nothing can be seen of the insecure and exhausted party leader who had to fight for office. Nahles is suddenly again the eloquent, passionate politician who turned the mood at the Bonn party congress in just seven minutes - in favor of the advocates of the grand coalition.
The background to their new confidence: Nahles' SPD has become intoxicated with itself this weekend. Two days, 3400 participants, more than 60 discussion forums and disputes. What sounded like a convulsively modern-day party show before the beginning turns out to be a truly innovative format on these two days, different from a normal party convention, like a smartphone from a dial-up phone.
Stimmenfang # 73 - Debate: Disappointed SPD voters meet Secretary General Lars Klingbeil 
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No word at the debate camp is as common as "alive" when it comes to describing the mood. The SPD is "alive," says Nahles. The base has the party topped a "decent energy boost" missed, added Ralf Stegner, one of her vice chiefs. "We did not run around as despondent as usual."
Nahles wants a big welfare state reform
The meeting also shows how great the yearning in the SPD is for a left-wing push. "We will leave Hartz IV behind us," says Nahles and reaps enthusiastic applause. What is needed is a new basic security, the help for poor children would have to be "unconditional". The SPD wanted a major, far-reaching reform, Nahles continued, the welfare state was following the rapid changes in society and the economy.
It is the central theme of the debate camp: The Trauma Hartz IV, which is symbolic of the agenda policy of Gerhard Schröder and the crash of the SPD, should be overcome. In addition, party interests and rights are in agreement.
It is unclear, however, how that should look like. How does the SPD want to change course without making a lump sum to declare its own policy of the past 20 years a mistake? And how is this going to work in parallel with the work in the Grand Coalition?
After all, left-wing pressure is unlikely to be implemented quickly, with a CDU that, after the announced withdrawal of Angela Merkel, also wants to strengthen its own brand core - and thus likely to become more socially restrictive. The SPD leadership now promises to take up the ideas of the debate camp, in the spring there will be more, regional debate camps, finally, the results in late 2019 flow into a new program.
But does the party have so much time? The unloved at many members GroKo, the electoral defeats in Bavaria and Hesse and especially the lousy poll numbers cause impatience. "We already have to take specific decisions at the board meetings on December 14 and in February," says party stegner. Only in this way could one prove that the promises of the debate camp are not just rhetorical phrases.
"Most important question of renewal"
Daniela Kolbe, a member of the Saxon parliament, calls the departure of Hartz IV on Sunday the "most important question of renewal". It hung like a millstone around the neck of the SPD, the system had "made many people, who have worked all their lives."
At Kolbes podium round with the title "What comes after Hartz IV?" all seats are occupied, it is a loud but constructive debate. What stands out: Detlef Scheele, head of the Federal Employment Agency, gets for his warning, now throw everything rashly over the pile, as applause as the trade unionist Gabriele Gröschl-Bahr, the Hartz IV system, a "inhumane basic image" sees ,
And one more thing becomes clear: The dispute over whether the SPD should remain in the Grand Coalition is also evident in the debate camp - parts of the base have noticeably alienated from the leadership. In a discussion of the parliamentary left and the right Seeheimer circle, the frustration is discharged: "You have to finally make social democratic policy again," says a comrade. Specifically, it is about tax increases, the richest in the country should pay more.
Dagmar Ziegler, one of the Seeheimer spokespersons, counters that a coalition must make compromises; the party does not have the majority to implement its program completely. The sober response angered the GroKo opponents even more, several shouting furiously: "That's the problem", "The receipt is 13 percent", "You will be sent home".
The basic conflict of the party - GroKo yes or no - superimposes everything and disturbs the euphoria even in the good mood debating meeting.
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