In the face of the risk of only men in the leaders of the main institutions of the Federal Republic, SPD’s favorite for Post, Rolf Mützenich, agreed to withdraw for the benefit of the 53-year-old member.
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The Germans will soon have no chancellor, but they will have a woman president of the Bundestag. Six weeks before Angela Merkel (Christian-Democratic Union, CDU) does not give way to Olaf Scholz (Social Democratic Party, SPD) at the head of the Government, Bärbel Low had to succeed Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), Tuesday, October 26 , at the head of the Chamber of Deputies. Since the founding of the Federal Republic, in 1949, only two women have already held this position, the second in the Protocol Order of the State: Annemarie Renger (SPD), from 1972 to 1976, and Rita Süssmuth (CDU), from 1988 to 1998.
There are still ten days, no one would have predicted such destiny to this 53-year-old elected, totally unknown to the general public. After the victory of the Social Democrats on the legislative of 26 September, another personality was indeed a favorite: Rolf Mützenich, Member since 2002 and head of the SPD group since 2019. Respected by all of his parliamentary colleagues, this elected Cologne, aged 65, was considered the natural candidate to Wolfgang Schäuble’s succession, the chairmanship of the Assembly traditionally reserved for the party in the election.
One point, in his CV, however, posed problem: the fact that he is a man. In an open letter published on October 18, the sociologist Jutta Allmendinger and the Protestant Theologian Peter Dabrock, former president of the National Ethics Committee, worried about seeing the Bundestag having a man again at his head.
“The policy has a model function”
“If the” Tricolore fire “coalition [SPD, Greens and Liberals of the FDP] is born, it would mean that the five main positions at the head of the State [Presidents of the Republic, the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, and the Constitutional Court and Federal Chancellery] will be occupied by men. (…) The policy, including parties attached to the principle of equality, has a model function. This is particularly the case of the SPD which, historically and Through its program, embodies progress. As such, it must be particularly attentive to this kind of things when it comes to the five highest functions of the state, “could be read in this open letter.
After such a reminder, the candidacy of Rolf Mützenich has become much more difficult to defend, especially since Olaf Scholz himself has several times presented as a “feminist” during his own campaign. Even within the SPD, the Influential Working Group of Social Democrats (ASF), founded in 1972, demanded that the party present a woman as a candidate for Wolfgang Schäuble succession. “The” Future Program “of the SPD promises a decade placed under the sign of equality. The words must correspond to acts. This is why the presidency of the Bundestag must be occupied by a woman. We have, in our group Many wonderful and competent women for such a position, “said Maria Noichl, ASF spokesman at the RND press group on October 18th.
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