Ramelow draws a comparison between the wagon master and Lafontaine to the former East German leader, Erich Honecker.
In Thuringia, the CDU, SPD, and the BSW are currently discussing a potential coalition government. BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht now demands that the Thuringian CDU distances itself from its party leader. Minister President Bodo Ramelow has compared Wagenknecht's influence over government formation to that of the former DDR state and party leader Erich Honecker. "The empress and the Saarlander have deeply ingrained obedience from the communist era," Ramelow said to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND), referring to Wagenknecht's husband, Oskar Lafontaine, who resides in Saarland. "Once there was a Saarlander who wielded power in the region of today's new federal states, but Moscow held the ultimate authority."
Ramelow previously wrote on X, "It appears there's no B for alliance or S for sovereignty, only W for obedience and ultimately Z for centralism and K for command economy. ZK - BSW has vetoed." Later, he wrote that "an entire federal state is being reduced to a steed for one person, and a government formation is being held captive. Thuringia - the true testing ground for dishonorable politics."
Wagenknecht had earlier called on the Thuringian CDU to distance itself from party leader Friedrich Merz in its Ukraine policy if it wanted to form a new state government with the BSW. "Following the alarming speech by Friedrich Merz this week in the Bundestag, in which he effectively advocated for Germany's entry into war against Russia, we can only form coalitions with his party if the state government clearly distances itself from such positions," Wagenknecht told "Der Spiegel."
Merz had called for a harder stance against Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in the Bundestag on Wednesday and reaffirmed this stance over the weekend. "If the war terror against the civilian population does not cease within 24 hours, the range restrictions on delivered weapons will be lifted," Merz said. "If that's not sufficient, Germany will provide Taurus cruise missiles to destroy the supply routes of the Russian army." The Ukraine regularly demands the right to utilize western weapons against targets on Russian territory in its defensive struggle.
"Always more daring"
In Thuringia and Saxony, the CDU, SPD, and BSW are currently deliberating if they can collaborate to form the upcoming state governments. Last week, reports indicated that the negotiations were promising as they primarily focused on state-political issues. However, Wagenknecht and her party insist that a coalition can only be formed if Ukraine is pressured to engage in peace negotiations with Russia and the stationing of American medium-range missiles in Germany is rejected.
Thuringia's Minister President Bodo Ramelow described this demand as "a dangerous warning with profound tragic significance." The deputy Thuringian CDU chairman, Christian Hirte, spoke of "evermore daring statements." "Friedrich Merz is our chancellor candidate and is leading Germany in the right direction," he said. Unquestionably, Wagenknecht is "disturbing the pragmatic politics in Thuringia."
"Leninist Ideologues' Alliance"
Even the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, urged the CDU and SPD not to bow to the BSW's foreign policy demands. "Those who subscribe to the BSW's slogans only damage themselves," he told "Der Spiegel." "Politicians of the democratic parties should not yield to populists from the principles of democracy, international law, or solidarity with Ukraine, neither at the state nor federal level."
Demands to end the Russian war of aggression should be directed "solely at Moscow," Makeiev emphasized. He criticized, "The BSW is exploiting the genocidal war that Russia is waging against my country to gain political advantage for itself." Simultaneously, the alliance denies Russian war crimes and practices victim-perpetrator reversal. It is a "Leninist Ideologues' Alliance."
In light of the ongoing discussions for Elections to the Landtag of Thuringia, the CDU, SPD, and BSW are currently negotiating potential coalition government formation. Wagenknecht, the BSW leader, has put forth a condition that the Thuringian CDU distances itself from its party leader's stance on Ukraine if they wish to form a coalition with the BSW.
