Former SPD leader and Labor Minister Bärbel Bas has spoken in detail for the first time about her decision to step down from her ministerial post and party leadership. In an interview with ARD program “Konfrontation: Markus Feldenkirchen trifft Bärbel Bas,” she said the death of her stepdaughter, who had cancer, affected her profoundly.
Bas said she realized while accompanying her stepdaughter at a hospice that she no longer had the strength to continue. She also said she could not think clearly about official or political matters and needed more time before returning. For that reason, she decided to leave her leading political positions.
Her resignation triggered a crisis within the governing coalition. Bas had complained about personal attacks from members of the coalition partner, both before her stepdaughter’s death and during the difficult period that followed. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil described the Union’s conduct as indecent, while Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s SPD premier, Manuela Schwesig, accused the party of treating Bas in an inhumane way.
The Union rejected those allegations, saying its criticism had concerned Bas’s work as minister and not her personally. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had called for consideration and did not believe that this request had been ignored.
In the ARD interview, Bas said political life was characterized by considerable harshness. She argued that there was often little room for humanity, including when politicians were seriously ill, because many people feared appearing weak in a demanding political environment. She described this as a kind of culture of silence.
Bas now regrets the coalition dispute that followed her remarks. Looking back, she said she probably would not have expressed her criticism of the Union in the same way and would have refrained from making it if she had anticipated the scale of the reaction.
Nevertheless, she said it had been important to address the public attacks against her. Bas said she wanted conditions to improve and called on the coalition partners to work together and develop greater mutual trust. She added that she herself no longer felt that trust by the end.
Bas also criticized Merz’s handling of the situation. She said she had informed the chancellor about her private circumstances and complained about attacks from members of his party. According to Bas, Merz assured her that he would take action, but she said this did not produce any noticeable result. She never discussed her resignation directly with him; Klingbeil informed the chancellor instead.
Bas said she had also felt a lack of support from within her own party. Addressing the government partners, she urged them to treat one another better, warning that otherwise the coalition would not succeed.
The politician said it was not the first time she had experienced the loss of someone close to her. She acknowledged that grief could make it difficult to get out of bed and said recovery required time. At the same time, she believed that holders of prominent political offices could not expect the political system to give them that time.
Bas announced her decision on October 12. She remains a member of the Bundestag, representing her constituency in Duisburg.
Sources: Tagesschau.