End after 18 years
Left-wing faction in the Bundestag decides to dissolve
November 14, 2023, 2:43 p.m
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It is a turning point for the party: after the departure of Sahra Wagenknecht and her supporters, the left-wing faction has missed the necessary minimum size. The dissolution of the group is now a done deal. More than 100 employees lose their jobs.
The left-wing faction in the Bundestag decided to dissolve on December 6th. This was announced by group members in Berlin. The background is the departure of the former parliamentary group leader Sahra Wagenknecht and nine other MPs from the Left party. Without them, the left-wing faction will lose its minimum size of 37 MPs and will have to be liquidated. It is a deep turning point for the left and very unusual for parliament.
It is now expected that two new parliamentary groups will emerge: the remaining 28 Left MPs on the one hand and Wagenknecht and her supporters on the other. We will work towards implementing this as quickly as possible, said Left Party leader Dietmar Bartsch before the group meeting. It was “not a nice day, but still an opportunity for a new departure.” Compared to a faction, a group has slightly fewer parliamentary rights and also receives less financial support from the state treasury. A Bundestag resolution is required to approve a group and determine its rights.
“The left is not dead, but it is up to us whether we can achieve a change,” said Bartsch on ZDF this morning. The “paralyzing self-preoccupation” and arguments must be over. He called on the left to “come back to politics.” The country “obviously” needs a “social opposition from the left.” Bartsch also announced that the “question of special commitment to the new countries” should again play a larger role on the left.
Liquidation can take years
Politically, it is a deep turning point for the left. The left-wing faction was founded in 2005, a merger of members of the former PDS and the then new WASG. Both parties then merged to form the Left in 2007. Now it is splitting again. Wagenknecht would like to found a rival party at the beginning of 2024. Your association “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht” is preparing this and is already collecting donations.
The fact that a Bundestag faction dissolves during the current legislative period is new. Such “liquidations” have so far only occurred after electoral defeats. In 2013, the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag was liquidated when it failed to pass the five percent hurdle. In 2002, the left-wing predecessor PDS went through such a procedure once. At that time, only two direct candidates made it into the Bundestag.
Because employees, rooms and contracts have to be terminated, liquidation can take years. The founding of the new parliamentary groups can begin before then. They need support from the other factions in the Council of Elders and in the plenary session. For the time being, the current members of the left-wing faction will probably sit as individual members of the Bundestag.
According to the Bundestag, the left-wing faction received around 11.5 million euros in state funding in 2022 and had personnel expenses of around 9.3 million euros. The group must now terminate all 108 employees. Some of them could find jobs with the two new groups.