Former construction minister Geywitz leaves SPD leadership

Former Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz wants to give up her post as deputy federal chair of the SPD after more than five years. Her state association - the SPD Brandenburg - announced that Geywitz had already announced internally at an early stage that she would not be running again. The 49-year-old from Potsdam has been deputy SPD party chairwoman since 2019.

Geywitz ran as a team for the party chairmanship in 2019 together with the then Federal Minister of Finance and later Chancellor Olaf Scholz, but both were narrowly defeated by Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans.

The Brandenburg SPD thanked Geywitz. "I would like to thank Klara Geywitz for her strong commitment to the interests of our Brandenburgers and the entire East German SPD on the party executive committee of the federal SPD in recent years," announced Kurt Fischer, the acting SPD General Secretary for Brandenburg. Geywitz was a member of the Brandenburg state parliament from 2004 to 2019 and Secretary General of the SPD state association from 2013 to 2017.

Eastern SPD supports Köpping as SPD Vice-Chair

The SPD in the east is supporting the candidacy of Saxony's Social Affairs Minister Petra Köpping as Federal Vice-Chair at the federal party conference from June 27 to 29 in Berlin. Köpping has the unanimous support of all East German SPD state associations as a joint candidate, the Brandenburg SPD announced.

"Petra Köpping brings decades of important experience from local and state politics," said Fischer. "We need her as an assertive East German woman on the party executive committee."

Fischer to join SPD federal executive committee

The Brandenburg SPD General Secretary is also to join the federal executive committee. The SPD state executive nominated Fischer as an assessor candidate at the suggestion of Minister President and state leader Dietmar Woidke. Assessors help decide on central decisions of the federal SPD. The 25-year-old Fischer has been a member of the state parliament and acting general secretary since last year.