After Wagenknecht's controversial speech, in which she accused the federal government of an "unprecedented economic war" against Russia, the waves have not yet calmed down even within the Left Party. Group leader Bartsch is critical, but does not want to ban Wagenknecht from speaking.
Left faction leader Dietmar Bartsch has clearly distanced himself from the speech by Bundestag member Sahra Wagenknecht on the Ukraine war, but does not want to ban her from speaking. Last week in the Bundestag, Wagenknecht spoke of an unprecedented economic war against Russia in connection with sanctions. Bartsch said on Deutschlandfunk that he didn't put the term in his mouth. Russia's criminal war against Ukraine is the starting point of all misfortune.
But one could also talk about the effectiveness of the sanctions. Bartsch sees a shift in Wagenknecht's speech that he does not share. "There must be no reversal," he warned.
Critics accuse Wagenknecht of not representing the majority opinion of the party. Ulrich Schneider, general manager of the Paritätischer Gesamtverband, resigned from the party because of the speech. Financial expert Fabio de Masi had also announced his departure. When asked whether Wagenknecht should be banned from speaking in the Bundestag, Bartsch said no. There is no such thing in Parliament, and dissenting opinions must also be made known there.
At the same time, Bartsch made it clear that MPs had to stick to party decisions. "We have a corridor," said the group leader. This is determined by the election programs and decisions of the party. The core of the politics of the left is to be "the social opposition in the Bundestag" and to deal with the politics of the traffic light coalition.
Bartsch also rated Wagenknecht's statements about party leader Martin Schirdewan as ineffective. At "Zeit Online", the former faction leader had described this as "wrongly cast". Schirdewan told the newspapers of the Funke media group on Wednesday: "The resignation of Schneider and others hurts a lot and shows that the disregard of democratic decisions by individual MPs when they appear on behalf of the parliamentary group is causing massive damage to our party." It is the task of the group leadership to ensure that something like this does not happen again.
