A violent verbal exchange this week has revealed tensions in the SPD parliamentary group. The starting point was an emotionally charged performance by ex-party leader Martin Schulz. He had asked in the group meeting on Tuesday, why a question he had submitted for the parliamentary survey of the Chancellor was not taken into account.
As a result, Parliamentary Managing Director Carsten Schneider decided that one could not consider all vanities. Schulz drove out of the skin, according to participants. For a year he has been getting in, according to Schulz - and then he has to listen to something like that.
Some MPs jumped Schulz aside, such as the head of the Lower Saxony state group, Johann Saathoff. This offered Schulz to give up a question in his favor.
Another Member of the Bund reported that she was frequently asked in her constituency why Schulz was increasingly getting out and about in Berlin. But there were also comrades who defended the decision of the top party; some were even alienated by Schulz's emotional outburst. After the meeting, Schulz and Schneider spoke out.
In the assessment of the incident, the faction is divided: Some see him as an indication that the former chancellor candidate is tired of his role as a simple deputy. Others consider the scandal as an indication of the nervousness of the top fraction before the upcoming European elections.
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