BSW positioning unclear
Wagenknecht leaves cooperation with the AfD open
February 25, 2024, 2:33 p.m
Sahra Wagenknecht does not fundamentally rule out joint decisions with the AfD. Alice Weidel only represents conservative, economically liberal positions. The BSW chairwoman rejects a firewall. What is important is whether claims are “right or wrong”. She also wants to hold talks with the CDU.
The first regional association of the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) party was recently founded in Saxony. BSW chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht left open the possibility of cooperation with the AfD on issues. The only thing that matters to her is “whether a demand is right or wrong,” she said. Collaborations with the CDU are also possible.
Regarding the AfD, Wagenknecht said in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” that BSW would not work “with extremists.” The Thuringian AfD state leader Björn Höcke is “a right-wing radical. We have nothing to do with that.” However, the AfD federal chairwoman Alice Weidel “does not represent right-wing extremist positions, but rather conservative, economically liberal ones”.
The only thing that matters to them is “whether a demand is right or wrong,” said Wagenknecht, rejecting a “firewall” for the AfD. The AfD’s voters are also “the vast majority not right-wing radicals” but are “rightly outraged by out-of-touch politicians,” she explained. She also emphasized that the BSW would “certainly also enter into discussions with the CDU” after the elections in East Germany. She recalled that the CDU in Thuringia had repeatedly submitted motions to the state parliament, which the AfD then approved. For them, this is “a normal democratic process”.
In the CDU, the statements were received cautiously. “So far we don’t know what specific content BSW stands for,” said Saxon Bundestag member Christiane Schenderlein to the “Tagesspiegel”. It is therefore not yet possible to say “whether alliances or cooperation of any kind would be conceivable or not”.
Establishment of regional associations and European elections
The founding meeting of the BSW Sachsen took place in Chemnitz behind closed doors. The former left-wing Bundestag member Sabine Zimmermann and the entrepreneur Jörg Scheibe were elected as state chairmen, as the deputy federal chairperson Amid Rabieh announced on the X platform.
The BSW, which emerged from a split from the Left Party, wants to run in the European elections and the state elections in the fall in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. A Thuringian regional association is to be founded in March; no date was initially known for Brandenburg. The party was founded at the federal level at the beginning of January. The chairmen are the namesake Wagenknecht and the former left-wing parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Amira Mohamed Ali.
Ukrainian ambassador criticizes Wagenknecht’s hesitation
In the “FAS” Wagenknecht again denied that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to destroy Ukraine. She advocated “freezing the conflict on the current front line.” The residents of the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian regions were then supposed to decide which country they wanted to belong to. BSW rejects arms deliveries to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, criticized this sharply. “It is criminal to adopt Russian propaganda or to claim that you don’t need weapons to defend yourself,” he told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.” Such statements are irresponsible given the current threat situation. Makeiev pointed out that Putin had repeatedly deprived Ukraine of its right to exist. No negotiations are possible on this basis, but only “from a position of strength”. Of course, every war will eventually be ended with negotiations, “but for us it is crucial that Russia takes responsibility for this war.”
Regarding the idea that Ukraine could cede territory to Russia, the ambassador said: “Would you do the same with your country? Give up a piece of Germany so that everyone else can have peace again?” Rather, Russia must be held accountable for its war of aggression and the damage caused.