Woidke leads SPD state premier after Lies election

Potsdam – Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke will lead the Prime Ministers of the SPD-led states, replacing Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil. Woidke confirmed this to the "Tagesspiegel" (online edition). Woidke will be the longest-serving SPD Prime Minister if the Lower Saxony State Parliament elects Economics Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) as Weil's successor on May 20, as planned. Woidke has governed Brandenburg since 2013. The SPD-led states are considered "A" states, along with the B states whose Prime Ministers belong to the CDU/CSU. The fact that the longest-serving SPD Prime Minister coordinates his "red" counterparts is one of the unwritten rules of politics. In this role, Woidke will host "fireside chats" on the eve of the Bundesrat plenary sessions, about once a month. In addition to the state premiers, the SPD parliamentary group leader, now Matthias Miersch, and the SPD chairmen Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken, as well as the SPD general secretary, usually participate. The fireside chat is intended to "sweep through" the last contentious issues before Bundesrat meetings and in the relationship between the federal and state governments. Woidke told the "Tagesspiegel" newspaper that he is "confident that cooperation between the federal and state governments will improve." He added that everyone faces "major challenges." These can only be solved jointly by the federal, state, and local governments. He called on the new federal government to "quickly take concrete action." "Now it's time to get down to business; things must be done," Woidke said: "Lars Klingbeil, together with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, will set the right priorities here."