Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) are meeting to agree on new policy plans, which their leadership sees as the last chance for the party's standing. The far-right Alternative for Germany, now established as the second-strongest political movement nationwide, has claimed the SPD's traditional role as a party of the working class. The Social Democrats' leaders acknowledge that many voters do not know what the party stands for and are facing a crisis of confidence within the party. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, who shares the party leadership with Baerbel Bas, has called for tax reforms to help middle-income earners and a mandatory pension scheme to shore up the creaking pensions system. The government hopes to use the summer months to relaunch the reform agenda before elections in eastern Germany in September where the AfD may win power at state level for the first time.