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Linke presents the election program, Kipping and Riexinger advertise red

2021-02-08T13:16:41.906Z


The left is starting the federal election campaign - with a program full of social gifts and a "mobility revolution". Not without ulterior motives: Left leader Kipping has again courted Greens and the SPD.


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Bernd Riexinger, Katja Kipping at the presentation of their election program for 2021

Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa

There is currently no mathematical majority for a government alliance made up of the Greens, the SPD and the Left Party.

And in terms of content, all three parties have so far been crossed on many points.

At the presentation of their election program, the left chairmen Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger nevertheless sent signals to a possible coalition.

After 16 years of the CDU, a social majority is needed in the Bundestag, said Kipping, "the left is ready for it."

"We are going into the Bundestag election campaign with great optimism and are all fighting together to ensure that the left is strengthened," added her party colleague Riexinger.

A look at the election manifesto of the SPD shows that the party is opening up to more left-wing ideas: "At least the headlines seem to have been copied directly from us."

Whether the Left Party should take on government responsibility is controversial within the party.

The Realo camp hopes for an alliance with the Greens and the SPD, but in the left wing there is too little agreement - parts of the comrades want the left to remain in the opposition in the future.

Kipping and Riexinger had presented the party's election manifesto at a video switch in Berlin.

In it, the party demands, among other things, an unconditional basic income of 1200 euros per month, an increase in the statutory minimum wage from currently 9.60 euros to 13 euros and more investments in the training of nurses and teachers.

The corona crisis shows "in all brutality" how unfairly educational opportunities are distributed in Germany, according to Kipping.

Billions in gifts for some, wealth tax for others

For better climate protection, the Left wanted a »left Green New Deal«: This includes comprehensive and barrier-free local transport, which is to become free in stages.

The party estimates 38 billion euros for the project.

The automotive industry is to be transformed into a »sustainable mobility industry«.

To this end, Die Linke envisions a transformation fund worth 20 billion euros annually that will support medium-sized companies in their ecological restructuring.

The Left Party wants to finance the social and climate policy packages through the introduction of a wealth tax.

According to its bill, the party expects 100 billion euros more for the public coffers.

The election manifesto is the party's first markup for the super election year 2021. Due to the corona pandemic, the Left had to postpone its party congress twice last year, which is now to be made up for at the end of February, largely digitally and at the same time decentrally.

At the party congress, Kipping and Riexinger are to be replaced as chairmen.

Only then does the party want to determine its top candidates for the election campaign.

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Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-02-08

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