A close relationship and the need for time
Bas announced her resignation on October 12, 2026. Speaking on "Konfrontation: Markus Feldenkirchen trifft Bärbel Bas," broadcast by WDR/ARD on November 2, she said she had recognized her exhaustion while accompanying her stepdaughter through hospice care.
Her stepdaughter died of cancer in late September, about two weeks before the resignation. According to WDR, she was roughly five years younger than Bas. The two had played soccer together for years before Bas later married her father, and Bas described their relationship as a friendship. Bas's husband, Siegfried Ambrosius, died in 2020.
Bas said the loss had sometimes made it difficult even to get out of bed in the morning. She could not focus on government or political business and knew she would not be able to return immediately. Recovering would take time, she said, but the demands of senior political office did not allow for that.
Criticism of coalition partners
Grief was not the only reason Bas gave for leaving. In her October 12 resignation statement, she said public attacks against her, including from within the coalition partner's ranks, had intensified during an already difficult personal period. She said she lacked the strength to carry out her government and party responsibilities fully.
According to WDR, politicians from the CDU/CSU had repeatedly accused Bas of deliberately holding up labor-market and pension reforms. CDU politician Christian von Stetten had said she was no longer acceptable as a minister. Bas characterized the attacks as a campaign to portray the SPD as obstructing progress.
In the interview, Bas said she regretted the coalition dispute her statement had triggered. Had she anticipated that response, she would have omitted the criticism of the coalition partner. She nevertheless stood by the substance of her criticism.
A successor in government, a seat retained in parliament
Alexander Schweitzer, an SPD politician and former minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate, succeeded Bas as federal minister of labor and social affairs. According to the Bundestag, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented him with his appointment certificate on October 13, 2026. Bundestag President Julia Klöckner swore him in at the opening of the plenary session the following day.
Bas, 58, remains a Bundestag member for Duisburg I, where she has been directly elected since 2009. Before becoming labor minister, she served as president of the Bundestag from 2021 to 2025.
