VZCZCXRO8618
RR RUEHAG RUEHLZ
DE RUEHDF #0002/01 0251747
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251747Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0055
INFO RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHDF/AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 0067

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSSELDORF 000002 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON GM
SUBJECT: NRW SPD TRIES TO EMERGE FROM CRISIS WITH A NEW LEADER: 
HANNELORE KRAFT 
 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000002  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Not for Internet Distribution 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The SPD in North-Rhine Westfalia (NRW) has 
placed its hopes in Hannelore Kraft, SPD floor leader in the 
Landtag, to lead the party out of the crisis it has been in 
since being ejected from power in 2005 after 39 years.  The 
party chose Kraft, its third leader since 2005, at a special 
convention in Bochum on January 20 to rebuild the party and lead 
its challenge to the CDU-FDP coalition in state elections in 
¶2010.  Kraft is young (45) and has climbed to the top of her 
party very quickly, in part because of her energy and intellect 
but also because of a paucity of alternatives and disarray in 
her party.  She has been Science Minister, Minister for Europe, 
and SPD leader in the Landtag, but still suffers from weak name 
recognition (as many as 90% of NRW residents in a recent poll 
did not know who heads the NRW SPD).  She has several years, 
however, to correct this weakness and to rebuild her party 
before facing the voters.  Kraft has been accessible and is well 
and favorably known to the Consulate.  End Summary. 
 
Overwhelming Support for the New "Power Woman" 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The SPD convened a special state convention in Bochum 
on January 20 to elect a new chairperson, following the 
resignation in December 2006 of Jochen Dieckmann, ostensibly 
"for personal reasons," but above all because of his lack of 
success in reinvigorating the party in NRW.  The sole candidate 
for the top position, Kraft received 95.6 percent of the votes 
cast by the 429 convention delegates, an extremely good result, 
given that she joined the SPD only 12 years ago and did not rise 
through the ranks of the party, normally a prerequisite for a 
leadership position in the NRW SPD.  With the two top leadership 
positions of the NRW SPD (Landtag floor leader and state party 
chairperson) combined in her hands, Kraft will, barring 
unforeseen problems, challenge Minister-President Juergen 
Ruettgers (CDU) in the 2010 state elections, although her 
official nomination as the SPD candidate will not come until 
later. 
 
¶3.  (U) As state chairperson of the - by far - largest SPD state 
organization in Germany, Kraft should also play an increasingly 
important role in national SPD affairs in coming years.  Both 
SPD national chairman Kurt Beck and Vice Chancellor Fritz 
M|ntefering expressed this expectation in their speeches at the 
Bochum convention, in which they hailed  Kraft as the new "power 
woman" from NRW (playing on her last name, which means "power" 
in German).  An influential delegate told us that Kraft, already 
a member of the SPD's national executive committee, will move up 
to the Presidium within the next two years and later possibly 
also become one of the national vice chairpersons of the SPD (a 
position currently held by Bonn Lord Mayor Bdrbel Dieckmann). 
 
¶4.  (U) Invoking traditional Social Democratic values and 
denouncing neo-liberalism in her one-hour speech at the 
convention, Kraft went to great lengths to present herself as a 
dyed-in-the-wool Social Democrat.  While freely acknowledging 
that she was a latecomer in the SPD, and regretting that she had 
never been a member of its youth organization, she made it a 
point to invoke traditional Social Democratic values and to 
underscore her support for current SPD positions, (for higher 
minimum wages, against university tuition fees, against further 
privatization of public services, against further cuts in social 
benefits, for retaining a certain level of government subsidies 
for the hard coal mining industry and against nuclear energy). 
She sharply attacked the CDU-FDP coalition in the state, which 
she accused of trying to sound like Social Democrats while 
pursuing neo-liberal policies.  She denounced Ruettgers' efforts 
to style himself as a champion of social justice as "dishonest 
and not authentic." 
 
Comment 
---------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Kraft, the youngest SPD state chairperson in NRW 
history and the first woman in that position, faces major tasks 
including:  restoring self-confidence to a seriously weakened 
party that remains demoralized after its historic defeat in 2005 
after 39 years in power; returning the SPD to the offensive in 
its largest bastion nationwide; and preparing the way for 
another chance at power in 2010.  She is fully aware of the 
difficulties ahead, but her excellent showing in Bochum is a 
good start.  Aides to Ruettgers have told the CG he is not 
taking her challenge lightly, as we saw recently when NRW CDU 
General Secretary Hendrik Wuest devoted most of a recent New 
Year speech to attacking her.  Political observers here recall 
that in 2000 in Essen, just 10 miles from the Bochum convention 
hall, Angela Merkel (at the time the same age as Kraft is today 
and also a "latecomer" to her party) was elected national CDU 
leader after her party had fallen from power and was 
demoralized.  Many political observers then only saw the odds 
against Merkel and underestimated her political mettle, 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000002  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
strengths, and ability to overcome the odds.  Ruettgers and the 
CDU and FDP in NRW have begun to take Kraft more seriously, in 
part because of her potential as a political "power woman."  End 
Comment. 
 
Bio Note 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Hannelore Kraft's political career is unusual for NRW 
SPD leaders.  She did not rise through the party's youth wing, 
joining the SPD in 1994 at the relatively late -- by NRW 
standards -- age of 33.  Her atypical career path has been to 
her advantage, as she has benefited from the party's search for 
a fresh, dynamic face after its crushing defeat in May 2005 
after 39 years governing the state.  Her career trajectory has 
been steep, having entered elective politics only in 2000, as 
the (surprise) winner of a seat in the Landtag in her hometown, 
the industrial city of Muelheim (Ruhr).  She was reelected in 
May 2005 for a second term and shortly thereafter as opposition 
leader in the NRW Landtag by an overwhelming majority.  Her 
success has been due in large part to her excellent record as 
Minister for Science and Research (under former NRW 
Minister-President and current Federal Finance Minister Peer 
Steinbrueck, a position she held from November 2002 to May 
2005), and Federal and European Affairs (under Minister Wolfgang 
Clement April 2001-November 2002), her articulate and feisty 
personality, as well as the party's search for a young, 
charismatic leader. 
 
¶7.  (U) Kraft is interested in close contacts with the United 
States and has been accessible and friendly in interactions with 
the CG and other CG Duesseldorf staff.  She has visited the 
United States at least once (i.e. Silicon Valley), while 
Minister for Science and Research.  Before entering politics, 
she worked as a consultant in a technology center in the Ruhr 
area 1989-2000.  She was born into a working class family, has 
degrees in banking (BA equiv) and macroeconomics (MA equiv) from 
Duisburg University and also studied at King's College, London. 
Her husband Udo is an electrician who runs a small business. 
They have one 13 year old son, Jan.  The Krafts live in a house 
together with her mother in Muelheim. 
 
¶8.  (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Berlin. 
BOYSE