BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The Left assumes that the Union will also work with the AfD after the federal election if necessary. Union chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz wants to “cut the welfare state to pieces,” said federal chairwoman Ines Schwerdtner at a party conference in Berlin. “And I don’t think it’s out of the question that he will ultimately get it through with the AfD, no matter what he claims before the election.”
In Austria and France and other European countries, conservative parties were already working with right-wing parties, Schwerdtner added. “Who else relies on this firewall here? That’s why there needs to be a social opposition in this country.” The Left leader called the AfD “essentially a fascist party” and added: “Anyone who makes slightly modified Nazi slogans their campaign motto is a Nazi party.”
“The Greens have screwed up the climate issue”
Co-leader Jan van Aken also differentiated the Left from the SPD and the Greens. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) talked about a rent limit during the election campaign, but did not implement it in the government. The SPD and the Greens have also been talking about a wealth tax for years, but they have never delivered. The Greens did not take social aspects into account when it came to climate protection and “therefore screwed up this whole climate issue”.
Van Aken once again declared the rent cap to be the central issue. “It doesn’t matter whether we go into the Bundestag with five or 15 percent, it doesn’t matter whether we co-govern or not, we won’t stop fighting for a rent cap, even if it takes five years,” said van Aken. “We will enforce it because the people need it.”
The Left has weakened after the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance split off and is polling at three to four percent five weeks before the election date. The party leadership is nevertheless confident that it will be able to enter the Bundestag again. She points to several thousand new members and the large turnout at election campaign events./vsr/DP/zb