As of: January 28, 2024, 5:39 p.m
By: Helmi Krappitz
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At a conference on the European elections, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil equated the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance with the AfD, Trump and Putin - and warned.
Berlin – With this year’s European elections, the political climate is heating up.
Concern about populism and right-wing extremism is not limited to the AfD - Lars Klingbeil, the federal chairman of the SPD, also sees the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) as a threat to the stability and prosperity of Europe.
“Very anti-European”: Klingbeil sees BSW as a threat to stability and prosperity
In addition to the AfD, the newly founded BSW, which acts “very anti-European,” is threatening, Klingbeil told the television station
Phoenix
at the SPD European delegate conference in Berlin .
That's why the election to the European Parliament on June 9th is so important.
“There's a lot at stake in this European election, it's about jobs everywhere in the country,” said the co-chairman.
“One in five jobs in Germany depends on the European Union and the populists and right-wing extremists want to endanger that.”
“Enemies of Europe”: SPD leader sees BSW as just as big a threat to Europe as the AfD
He called on his party to fight against the “enemies of Europe”.
“The enemies from within and without, the Trumps, the Putins, the Höckes.
Since yesterday we also know the Wagenknechts,” he said in his speech.
Klingbeil accuses the BSW of not wanting to take responsibility.
The “people in this alliance” “always ran away when they could take concrete responsibility.”
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil warns against voting for AfD or BSW.
(Archive photo) © picture alliance/dpa |
Marco Rauch
They would have preferred to sit on talk shows or write books, said the SPD federal chairman, alluding to the former left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht.
The criticism not only referred to the EU-critical positions, but also to the BSW's Ukraine policy.
Wagenknecht would intend to abandon Ukraine - but the SPD would remain firmly on Ukraine's side.
“We are the party that will defend Europe and its values,” said Klingbeil about his party.
“Want to destroy” EU: Klingbeil warns against voting for AfD and BSW
The SPD, on the other hand, has a clear agenda: increasing wages, secure pensions and protecting workers.
“I don’t need a new party for this, I need to strengthen those who are responsible in Europe.” That’s why in the election campaign we have to make it clear to the “steel workers in Duisburg” or “those who screw cars at Volkswagen”: “They have it Forces have arisen that want to destroy the European Union in its current form.”
(dpa/hk)