In view of its persistent low, Rhineland-Palatinate Minister-President Alexander Schweitzer (SPD) is calling on his party to seek trust with new ideas and political emotionalization.

"Emotions have always been and will always be a part of politics. We should not leave political emotions to the left and the emotionally toxic AfD," Schweitzer told the "Tagesspiegel" (Monday edition). Enthusiasm for political ideas once made the SPD strong.

"We must ignite this spirit within ourselves so that others can be inspired," said Schweitzer: "Many people are just waiting for a strong, emotionally moving counter-offer from the political center to the hatred of the AfD." The SPD needs "its own political message, an attractive offer that reaches and touches people," said Schweitzer, who has been deputy SPD chairman since June. Successful governing at federal, state, and local levels is important, but not enough. "I have the impression that the SPD has become a bit too boring for many. We need new political ideas and impulses, a new style," said the Mainz-based government leader. The SPD is "sometimes too technocratic," and people don't just want bureaucratic answers in bullet points. "The world is changing dramatically. The SPD should also respond to this in a fundamental way," Schweitzer said. "If you like: We need to argue more with our hearts, not just with our calculators." Schweitzer said he wanted to win back former SPD voters by ensuring that the Social Democrats not only governed cleanly, "but also that they could inspire people." In the debate about the future of the welfare state, the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister-President called on the CDU/CSU and SPD to end their "trench warfare" and "party-political rituals." "Our welfare state is too analog, too old-fashioned," Schweitzer told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. "There are too many actors: municipalities, municipalities among themselves, municipalities alongside each other, municipalities and the state, the state and the federal government, and the social insurance systems." The SPD vice-chairman continued: "We spend a lot of money administering the welfare state instead of shaping it." Anyone who wants to preserve the welfare state must modernize it. "The SPD must shape this debate and drive it forward. The SPD must do more than just play defense from the baseline." "I'm annoyed by the party-political rituals," Schweitzer said. He still hears CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann repeating "the same old story that reduced social benefits will make everything better," Schweitzer said. "That's just as damaging as the claim that nothing should change in the welfare state. The CDU/CSU and SPD must get out of this trench warfare." With regard to the planned reform of the citizen's income, Schweitzer said the best citizen's income is the one "that doesn't have to be paid out. We need to empower people better and faster to lead a self-directed life through their own work. That is the goal, not the ritualized debate à la: Who are we taking what away from?