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Oskar Lafontaine resigns from the Left Party
STORY: Oskar Lafontaine, the former chairman, has left the Left Party. The party he co-founded. A written statement on his website said: He wanted there to be a left-wing alternative to the politics of social insecurity and inequality on the political spectrum, so he co-founded the party Die Linke. Today’s left has given up this claim. Lafontaine also criticized the party’s stance on the war in Ukraine. Leading leftists have spoken out in favor of increasing arms spending and comprehensive arms deliveries to Ukraine. He no longer wants to belong to a party that no longer focuses on the interests of workers and pensioners and a foreign policy based on international law and peace. Lafontaine had led the left-wing faction in the Saarland state parliament since 2009 and was adopted there on Wednesday. Lafontaine, who is now 78, joined the SPD in 1966. He was Lord Mayor of Saarbrücken, Prime Minister of the Saarland and Federal Chairman of the SPD. He was finance minister in the Schröder cabinet until his resignation in 1999. At that time, he surprisingly resigned both his ministerial post and the SPD chairmanship. This was preceded by a dispute with the Federal Chancellor, in which Schröder had criticized Lafontaine’s policies and in particular the tax burdens on the economy. Lafontaine has been married to left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht since 2014.
It’s the party he helped found. He explained the reasons on his website.