Debate about election program
The Left wants to enter the EU Parliament with a “class perspective”.
09/11/2023, 4:14 p.m
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Higher taxation of large incomes, social justice, climate protection and a different peace policy: The Left presents its program for the European elections to its members. “If you want Europe, you have to take it away from the rich,” says party leader Wissler.
The Left Party wants to put the issues of social justice, climate protection, peace and participation at the center of its program for next year’s European elections. The party executive committee unanimously decided on a corresponding draft program, as the chairmen Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan announced. “If you want Europe, you have to take it away from the rich,” said Wissler. The European elections are scheduled to be held from June 6th to 9th in all 27 member states of the European Union. Preparations for the election campaign are being weighed down by ongoing speculation about the founding of a new party by left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht.
“We are making a social offer,” said Schirdewan, who, according to the party leadership, should also lead the Left’s European election list. It’s about “a policy for a different, better EU,” he emphasized. The Union must become a “force for social justice, climate protection and peace”. This should be combined “with a class perspective” and the left wants to “show the rake to the rich and powerful,” said Schirdewan, who is already co-group leader of the left in the European Parliament.
The main lines in the more than 80-page draft program:
- more public spending and fewer requirements through European debt rules
- more taxes on high incomes and corporate profits, including a minimum tax of 25 percent for companies
- Strict climate protection with “climate justice”, for example through socially staggered energy prices from non-profit suppliers
- an asylum policy with as few restrictions as possible with “public sea rescue”
- Strengthening the EU Parliament
These include a number of specific demands, such as a four-day week, basic European child welfare, the awarding of public contracts as regionally as possible or the prospect of free buses and trains. Wissler said that one of her “personal favorite demands” was the establishment of a “United Railways of Europe”, an umbrella company that coordinates a dense rail network with socially capped ticket prices in Europe. The goal: more public transport, fewer cars.
“No competition with right-wing populists”
“We are fighting for a redistribution of social wealth,” said Wissler. The Left wants to “tax profits appropriately and fight for good working conditions and fair wages.” Industry in Europe should be restructured so that it is sustainable and climate-friendly because “the climate catastrophe is getting worse and worse.”
Schirdewan emphasized that the left “does not compete with right-wing populists to mobilize vileness,” but rather offers “progressive concepts.” She seeks conflict with the rich and corporations, “but not in a reactionary way, but in a unifying way.”
Schirdevan said of the peace policy: “We are witnessing Russia’s terrible war of aggression against Ukraine.” This is linked to more bloc formation and a massive increase in international tensions. The aim of the left is a “united Europe that is committed to peace”. The party stands “against rearmament and militarization” and also against arms deliveries to crisis and war zones.
According to Schirdewan, the party leadership wants the independent climate and human rights activist Carola Rackete to be at the top of the Left’s European election list. The European politician and trade unionist with Kurdish roots, Özlem Demirel, and the non-party social doctor Gerhard Trabert are to follow. A federal party conference in Augsburg in mid-November is expected to decide on the program and electoral list, and by then there should be a broad discussion within the party.