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Left party congress: Kipping calls for clarification of the government question - "The times demand more from us" 

2021-02-26T18:37:24.075Z


Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger step down from the top of the left. At an online party conference, the baton will now be handed over to a new, all-female dual leadership.


Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger step down from the top of the left.

At an online party conference, the baton will now be handed over to a new, all-female dual leadership.

  • On Friday and Saturday (February 26th and 27th) 600 delegates of the party Die Linke will meet for the online party conference.

  • A new chairman duo is to be elected - the most promising candidates are Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow

    (see first report).

  • The outgoing party leader Katja Kipping speaks out in favor of the left's participation in government

    (see update from February 26, 6:35 p.m.).

  • The news ticker for the left party congress is constantly updated.

Update from February 26, 6:35 p.m.:

The outgoing party leader of the Left Katja Kipping spoke out at the federal party congress in favor of striving for possible government participation at the federal level.

"Because times demand more from us than just stand on the sidelines and


criticize the bad game of the others," argues the 43-year-old.

Like her party colleague, Kipping, who has chaired the Left Party together with Bernd Riexinger since 2012, is no longer standing for election.

The Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler and the Thuringian left-wing chairwoman Susanne Hennig-Wellsow are favorites for the successors.

"Let's go out onto the pitch, let's gather behind two captains and attack," said Kipping with regard to her successors.

The 43-year-old sees the unclear identity of her party in relation to possible participation in government as the main reason for the currently weak poll numbers of the left.

A party that has resolved the government issue for itself will be heard more than a party that is still undecided, she said.

Left party congress: Riexinger speaks out against deployments abroad - "End the armaments madness"

Update from February 26, 4:50 p.m.:

To govern or not - this Gretchen question is also an issue at the Left Party Congress on Friday.

“We are providing a Prime Minister with Bodo Ramelow.

We can rule.

There is no question at all, ”said one of two candidates for the party chairmanship, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, on Friday in the ARD“ Mittagsmagazin ”.

Meanwhile, party leader Bernd Riexinger confirmed his party's rejection of Bundeswehr missions abroad in his farewell speech at the Left's online party conference - defense policy could be one of the main problems in a red-red-green coalition.

The Greens, too, recently switched to a more arms-friendly course.

Riexinger emphasized that they wanted to “end the armaments madness”.

The money must be invested in the health system and not in tanks, tornadoes and armed drones.

"Our positions on peace, against all foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr: We will not participate in any government that wages wars and allows combat missions of the Bundeswehr abroad."

Riexinger also renewed the demand for a property levy to finance the corona crisis costs.

It should pay the costs of the crisis to those who have enriched themselves in the last few decades and even during the pandemic, he said on Friday at the two-day delegates' meeting that is taking place online because of Corona.

Update from February 26th, 1:34 p.m.:

The Left has now started its two-day digital federal party

conference

.

The 600 delegates elect not only the top management but also the rest of the party executive committee.

Today, after speeches by the outgoing party leaders and parliamentary group leaders, the key proposal will be discussed.

Its motto is "How to get out of the crisis fairly - with a social, peaceful and ecological system change".

"The question will be: who pays the bill?" It says in the submission of the party executive.

The super-rich would have to be used to finance the crisis.

The left wants to adopt the election manifesto for the federal elections in autumn at another party congress in June.

Left Party Congress: Looking for a new top - Kipping believes in Wissler and Hennig-Wellsow

Update from February 26th, 11:05 am:

Before the start of the Left Party Congress at 1 pm, the outgoing chairwoman Katja Kipping was convinced that a new dual leadership composed of Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow will "reflect the breadth of the party".

“I am confident that they will find the right course,” said Kipping in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”.

Meanwhile, the current chairman, Bernd Riexinger, is pleased that the party has been able to expand its range of topics in recent years.

The party is no longer fighting just for social justice, but also for climate protection, said Riexinger to the

editorial network Germany

.

The left has also become more movement and campaign-oriented.

"We have expanded our milieu."

Left Party Conference: Postponed twice in advance - on Saturday election of the new leadership duo

+

The outgoing left-wing party leaders Bernd Riexinger and Katja Kipping speak to journalists at the federal press conference.

(Archive)

© Carsten Koall / dpa

First report from February 25th:

Berlin - After almost nine years at the top of the left, the outgoing chairmen, Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, draw a positive balance of their work.

The left is an indispensable part of the political landscape, said Kipping to journalists in Berlin a few days before the change in leadership.

Riexinger spoke of a recognized party with which people discuss and which is no longer simply dismissed and insulted.

The duo has been leading the Left since June 2012 and actually wanted to quit last June, but the planned election party conference was postponed twice due to the corona virus.

On this Friday and Saturday (February 26/27) around 600 delegates will meet for an online party congress - like the CDU in January - to elect a new top.

This is expected to be formed by the deputy party and Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler and the Thuringian state and parliamentary group leader Susanne Hennig-Wellsow.

There are no other promising candidates.

Party congress in Berlin: low polls of the left - dream of red-red-green in danger?

You have given everything in the last nine years, said Kipping.

“The ground is prepared.

Now a new chapter can be opened. ”But the ground is rocky: The left is bobbing around in the polls at seven to eight percent.

If the mood of the electorate does not change significantly by autumn, the dream of governing at the federal level by the side of the Greens and the SPD will probably remain.

Surveys do not currently see a majority for this.

The two co-bosses emphasized the positive in their balance sheet: The left has become more modern in recent years and is now also more broadly positioned in terms of its program.

"We have not thrown our principles, such as criticism of capitalism or peace policy overboard, and yet we provide prime ministers, have introduced the rent cap in Berlin and are in the government in Bremen in the first West German state," said Kipping.

Left party conference: Sahra Wagenknecht criticizes the party's orientation

But the era with her and Riexinger at the top was also marked by heated arguments about the direction of the party.

The ongoing dispute with ex-parliamentary group leader and party celebrity Sahra Wagenknecht, who had campaigned for a more restrictive migration policy, left particularly deep wounds.

Wagenknecht, who is now a simple member of the Bundestag and also runs for the next parliament, continues to persist.

She repeatedly criticizes the left's course for being too aloof.

The left is being elected less and less in prefabricated housing estates and more in expensive, trendy neighborhoods, she recently told

Der Spiegel

and demanded that the party should concentrate on representing the low-wage, the lower middle and the working class.

"But that only works if we take the worldview of these people seriously, if we respect their values ​​and desires instead of labeling them as retrograde."

Left party conference in Berlin: New party leaders should bring a breath of fresh air

The new party leaders should now bring in a breath of fresh air and unity.

But Wissler and Hennig-Wellsow also have different ideas, as was made clear in interviews in advance: Hennig-Wellsow, who is involved in government with the Left in Thuringia, also wants to work towards government participation by the Left in the federal government and speaks of similarities with the Greens and SPD.

You stand for a "radical realpolitik".

Wissler, on the other hand, considers a government made up of the three parties to be rather unlikely and shows himself tough on the subject of foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr - a possible sticking point in possible coalition negotiations: "I see no possibility for compromises in Bundeswehr deployments, unlike other issues," said Wissler recently in the

Tagesspiegel

.

"There is no such thing as a little war."

Video: upheaval on the left: Kipping and Riexinger step down

The left will not join a government that decides on foreign missions.

Hennig-Wellsow, on the other hand, does not close this door completely and at least does not rule out peacekeeping missions under the umbrella of the United Nations.

Still-party leader Kipping sees no problem in this and refers to her collaboration with Riexinger.

Wherever you have different positions, you look for a common solution.

She is "totally confident".

After her time at the top of the party, Kipping wants to continue "to take action against Hartz IV and poverty" and sees herself as a "bridge builder for new left majorities" - exactly how in which function, that is open.

Riexinger also wants to stay with the parliamentary group in the Bundestag.

(dpa / fmü)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-02-26

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