Schirdewan in the ARD summer interview: “We are running into a perfect storm”

Energy crisis, inflation, social upheaval – the leader of the Left Party sees difficult times ahead for Germany. The government seems unwilling to act, said Schirdewan in the ARD summer interview.

With a view to high prices for energy and food, the co-chair of the Left Party, Martin Schirdewan, has sharply criticized the federal government. She is unwilling or unable to act when it comes to a “fair distribution of the burden of the expected crisis”.

Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the consequences, a “social catastrophe is threatening, with a huge wave of energy poverty rolling towards the country, which at the same time, together with inflation, means that people can no longer afford food that rents keep going up,” said Schirdewan.

autumn of protests

In addition, there is a danger that the country will run into a “manifest crisis of democracy”. The extreme right is already beginning to mobilize. They are not concerned with the social question, but with their anti-democratic program. “We are walking into a perfect storm as a society.”

The Left Party will also call for protests in the fall. The aim is to put pressure on the federal government and to get it to act, said the 47-year-old. An excess profit tax, a gas price cap, a rent moratorium and a ban on gas and electricity cuts are needed if people cannot pay their bills.