There is dissatisfaction in the SPD about how the incumbent state leadership around the governing mayor Franziska Giffey and parliamentary group leader Raed Saleh are dealing with the social democratic members of the former Senate. This emerges from a letter from former Finance Senator Matthias Kollatz, which is available in the Tagesspiegel.
In it, Kollatz, who took over the office in 2014 and held it for seven years, vented his anger. The occasion is an invitation from Giffey and Saleh at the end of January. In it, both announced that they would like to thank Kollatz, who had left the Senate rather involuntarily, at the SPD state party conference on June 19 for the work he had done – in a “dignified” setting and, above all, personally.
Kollatz refuses. In his letter to the party leadership he writes: “Your part did not communicate about the work done when the change in the Senate took place. (…) It feels like we’ve seen each other 15 times since then and the corona restrictions can certainly not be used to mean that it wasn’t possible to say thank you personally with a few sentences for the work done the whole time.”
He added: “It is better to refrain from this tribute. Then nothing wrong or not meant to be said.” In an interview with the Tagesspiegel on Wednesday, he unequivocally stated that he would stick to his decision and not be available for the planned award.
The alleged problem, i.e. the lack of communication between the new leadership duo and the old leadership team within the Senate, seems to be of a fundamental nature. According to reports, there was little or no communication with the former members of the state government in the SPD during the weeks between the election and the formation of the government.
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State secretaries from various senate administrations were literally hanging in the air and hoped that their work would be continued. These were often disappointed – even where the SPD continues to bear responsibility.
Kollatz commented extremely cautiously on a process that may have contributed to the creation of his letter. According to information from the Tagesspiegel, Kollatz, who is still a member of the House of Representatives, wanted to keep the position on the supervisory board of Berlinovo that he had taken over as finance senator and had already agreed on this with his successor, Daniel Wesener (Greens).
The agreement was canceled, allegedly because the government had vetoed it. Kollatz explained: “There was and is no conflict between me and Daniel Wesenr about this connection.”
