“That would be irresponsible”
Bartsch worries about the “existence” of the left faction
08/08/2023 11:32 am
Despite the departure of Mohamed Ali, her co-group leader Bartsch does not want to hear anything about a split in the Left Party. However, he makes it clear that resignations would drastically endanger the continued existence. Wagenknecht is also needed for a united appearance, according to the party.
Left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch has warned members of parliament against endangering their continued existence by leaving the parliamentary group. “There is concern that the existence of the parliamentary group will be ended by resignations,” Bartsch told the “Tagesspiegel”. “If three MPs leave our group, the group must be liquidated according to established case law. That would be irresponsible.” He has led the parliamentary group since 2015 as one of two co-chairs, most recently with Amira Mohamed Ali. Despite everything, Bartsch said her withdrawal did not mark his party falling apart. “There will be no split in the left. We are stable in our core substance. I want the left to act together,” said Bartsch. A split in the left would only strengthen conservatives and the right.
Bartsch does not expect that Mohamed Ali will help found a Wagenknecht party. “Amira wants to continue working in the Bundestag. Like Sahra Wagenknecht, she is a member of our parliamentary group. Amira Mohamed Ali and I are currently preparing our parliamentary group’s retreat,” he told the “Tagesspiegel”. Mohamed Ali had announced on Sunday that she would no longer stand as a candidate in the board elections in September. Her task of “supporting and representing the course of the party, above all the party leadership, in public” was “increasingly difficult” for her. It is now “impossible” for her.
She leaves it open to remain in the party and parliamentary group. “I’m a member of the Left Party, that’s the current status, and we’ll see what the future brings,” said Mohamed Ali on Deutschlandfunk. She stood up for certain political content, for which she was elected and for which she also stands. “That’s my guiding principle and that’s important to me.” She did not foresee the development of the party when she took office, she wished for a different development. Wagenknecht has fallen out with the party leadership in a dispute over direction and is considering founding his own party. Followers could follow her.
Riexinger demands fundamental corrections
Meanwhile, the former chairman of the left, Bernd Riexinger, called for further fundamental corrections. “The current structure will not be sustainable,” he told the newspapers of the editorial network Germany, referring to the coalition of supporters of the reform wing around the co-chairman of the parliamentary group Bartsch and the wing around the former parliamentary group leader Wagenknecht, to which Mohamed Ali also belongs.
“There must now be an open discussion about how to proceed.” There will be an opportunity to do so at the closed meeting in early September. “I hope the parliamentary group chooses a leadership that cooperates closely with the party leadership. The fact that this has not happened so far is part of our misery,” said Riexinger. “The best way for us to get back on our feet is when there is a common policy between party and faction leadership.”
Pellmann: Together also means with Wagenknecht
So that the conflicts in his party could be resolved, Left Party MP Sören Pellmann also called for a party convention. “There is my call to the party executive and the parliamentary group to get together and meet for a party convention before the new parliamentary executive committee is elected and before the federal party conference, which takes place in the fall,” Pellmann told Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. He urged a united front. “Together means that everyone in the party – and by that I mean Sahra Wagenknecht – work together so that there is a strong left again,” emphasized the Leipzig MP.
At the moment, however, there is little willingness to talk on either side. “You should and must accept offers of talks, that goes in both directions, but especially in the direction of the party executive,” he warned. Pellmann was also alarmed in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”: “I am convinced that we are currently in a historically difficult situation for the left.” At the same time, he asserted that he did not want to join a possible new Wagenknecht party.