Lafontaine rejects joint responsibility for division
Oskar Lafontaine sees no responsibility in himself or his wife Sahra Wagenknecht for the split in the Left Party. When asked whether he and Wagenknecht had "shot the party to pieces" with their criticism over the years, he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung: "That is the fairy tale of those who are incapable of winning elections." Party leaders have the task of keeping the wings together and working towards compromises, he said. "If a party leadership aggressively defends the position of only one wing and fights the other, as is the case with the Left, then the split begins," said Lafontaine.
Above all, it is about factual issues, such as migration policy. "The left's migration policy - open borders and the right to stay for all, over 1,000 euros in citizens' income for everyone who wants to come to Germany - is rejected by the vast majority of the population and only causes people to shake their heads. Anyone who advocates such a wrong policy on a central issue will be punished by the voters."
Wagenknecht left the Left Party in October and plans to found her own party in January. On Tuesday, the Left Party decided to dissolve its parliamentary group on December 6. Two new parliamentary groups are now expected to emerge: the remaining 28 Left Party MPs on the one hand and Wagenknecht and her supporters on the other.
Lafontaine said of Wagenknecht's party formation: "Politically, of course, I support my wife's decision. But as a husband, I am not enthusiastic about it." Political work is "incredibly exhausting and time-consuming", building a new party all the more so.
Lafontaine, now 80 years old, was Minister President of Saarland (1985-1998), SPD candidate for Chancellor (1990), SPD Federal Chairman, Federal Finance Minister, co-founder of the Left Party and its party and parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag. Most recently, he led the Left Party parliamentary group in the Saarland state parliament. He left the Left Party in 2022.
Despite Lafontaine's rejection of joint responsibility for the Left Party's division, some might argue that his critiques over the years, aligned with Wagenknecht, could be seen as contributing to the parties' fragmentation. Following Wagenknecht's departure and plans to establish a new party, Lafontaine expressed support for her decision politically but expressed concerns about the exhausting and time-consuming nature of building a new political group, called BSW.
Source: www.dpa.com
