Bärbel Bas has stepped down with immediate effect as Germany’s Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and as co-leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
In a statement released on October 12, she cited the recent death of her stepdaughter and the need for time to grieve, while also pointing to intensified public attacks on her, including from within the conservative ranks of the coalition partner.
“After the death of my stepdaughter, I realised that I need time to come to terms with my grief. I want to take sufficient time for this,” Bas wrote.
“Furthermore, I must unfortunately note that the public attacks on me, unfortunately also from the ranks of the coalition partner, have been further intensified during this personally difficult time for me. Since I am currently unable to muster the strength to fully carry out my government and party work in the short term, I have decided to give up both offices.”
She informed co-leader and Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, who also holds the finance portfolio, that she was resigning the party chairmanship effective immediately and asked Chancellor Friedrich Merz to dismiss her from the ministerial post.
Bas, 58, who has been a Bundestag member since 2009 and previously served as president of the Bundestag from 2021 to 2025, said she would retain her parliamentary mandate for her Duisburg constituency in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany.
She had held the labour portfolio since May 2025, when the coalition of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the SPD took office, and the party co-leadership since June 27, 2025.
Klingbeil described the decision as saddening and understandable.
“Behind the offices, we are all just human beings. That is why I can personally understand her step. The attacks against her in the last days of her mourning were inappropriate. That is not acceptable,” he said.
He cancelled a planned trip to India that was due to begin on the afternoon of October 12; his subsequent travel to the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Bangkok, Thailand is also on hold, according to his ministry.
Alexander Schweitzer, an SPD deputy leader and the former minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate, who governed the state from July 2024 until May 2026, is set to succeed Bas as labour minister, according to multiple reports citing party sources and Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Schweitzer previously served as the state’s social affairs minister from 2021 to 2024 and led the SPD parliamentary group in the Landtag in Mainz. He left office after the SPD lost the state election in March to the CDU, whose Gordon Schnieder now heads a CDU-SPD coalition government there.
The question of who will replace Bas as SPD co-leader remains open. Klingbeil said in Berlin that the party would put its entire leadership up for election again at a federal party congress at the end of 2026, rather than filling the vacant post alone. He did not say whether he would stand again.
Bas’ resignation comes amid ongoing coalition tensions over social and labour reforms, with criticism from parts of the CDU/CSU that progress on certain measures has been too slow. Union politicians had pressed her to bring forward draft bills on the government’s pension package so that parliamentary scrutiny could begin, and accused her ministry of leaving two central reforms of basic income support — the scheme replacing the Bürgergeld welfare payment — on hold.
The SPD leadership and parliamentary group have expressed regret at her departure while acknowledging the personal circumstances. SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch said he had great respect for her decision.
