Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) must be ready for painful compromises in government, parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch said at the party’s national conference on Saturday.

After leading the previous German government under ex-chancellor Olaf Scholz, the centre-left SPD nosedived to 16% in February’s parliamentary election and is now the junior partner in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s administration, in coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU).

The party faces difficult choices, Miersch said, highlighting a vote in parliament to suspend familiy reunification for migrants with limited protection status in Germany on Friday.

“This is a compromise that was not easy for us. But it is in the coalition agreement,” emphasized Miersch in Berlin.

The SPD base approved the agreement with a large majority and must now implement it, he said. To do so, Miersch said the party’s lawmakers need solidarity from the party membership.

He also called for recognition of initial achievement in social policy, such as the extension of a brake on rental prices and an investment package for German companies.

“That’s why it’s important to find a balance,” said Miersch.

Miersch’s speech came on the second day of the three-party conference.

Party co-leader Lars Klingbeil, who serves as finance minister and vice chancellor in Merz’s government, was dealt a political blow on Friday when he was re-elected to the top party job, albeit with less than 65% of the vote.

Among those appearing on Saturday was Klingbeil’s former co-leader Saskia Esken, who was pushed out of the party leadership after the election.

Esken said she was stepping down “without melancholy” and used her speech to thank former chancellor Scholz, who also attended the conference.

Scholz promised that he can be counted on to cherish the party’s centre-left values long after his time in office.

“I intend to be a former chancellor that the SPD will always be happy to have,” he said during his farewell speech at the conference, marking his exit from the top job last month.

The SPD has had a difficult relationship with another former chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, for years.