Labour Minister Bas Resigns as SPD Co-Leader, Citing Bereavement and Coalition Attacks; Merz's Coalition Strained Again
On Monday, October 12, 2026, Germany's labour minister and co-leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), Baerbel Bas, resigned unexpectedly from both posts. Reuters, via Devdiscourse, reported that Bas said she was stepping down to deal with grief over her stepdaughter's recent death. She added that public attacks against her, unfortunately also from within the ranks of the coalition partner, had made her situation unbearable.
Succession arrangements followed at once: Alexander Schweitzer, former premier of Rhineland-Palatinate, will replace her as labour minister, and the whole SPD leadership will face re-election at a special party conference at the end of the year. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, who shared the SPD leadership with Bas, cancelled a planned trip to India, and it was unclear whether he would attend the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Thailand that week. Klingbeil called the attacks on Bas during her mourning inappropriate and unacceptable.
Bas's ministry oversees large parts of Germany's welfare system. She had been repeatedly criticised by some members of Merz's Christian Democrats, who accused her of standing in the way of economic reforms; the conservatives seek pro-business labour-market deregulation to revive the economy amid surging energy prices and tough rivalry from China, while the SPD pushes to preserve workers' rights and benefits.
Her departure was not expected to disrupt the government overall, but it highlighted the turmoil facing Europe's largest economy. Merz's coalition has been under growing pressure since the far-right AfD's state-election victories in eastern Germany last month, languishing in opinion polls amid economic uncertainty and frustration over living costs. Five more regional elections next year will test Merz's ability to pass major legislation through the Bundesrat ahead of the 2029 federal election.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 施普雷河畔的联邦议院建筑群，柏林。摄影：Jorge Royan，CC BY-SA 3.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
