After the fuss about a speech by Bundestag member Sahra Wagenknecht and several resignations from the party, Left Party leader Martin Schirdewan takes responsibility for the leadership of the parliamentary group. “The disregard of democratic resolutions by individual MPs when they appear on behalf of the parliamentary group does massive damage to our party,” Schirdewan told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “It’s the task of the parliamentary group leadership to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.” The faction is led by Dietmar Bartsch and Amira Mohamed Ali.
During an appearance in the Bundestag last week, the former parliamentary group leader Wagenknecht accused the federal government of “starting an unprecedented economic war against our most important energy supplier” with regard to Russia. She called for economic sanctions to be lifted. Schirdewan and co-party leader Janine Wissler distanced themselves, and several members of the Bundestag criticized Wagenknecht.
At the beginning of the week, Ulrich Schneider, general manager of the German Parity Welfare Association, announced his withdrawal from the party, citing Wagenknecht’s speech as a reason. The fact that the left faction let Wagenknecht on the podium and what they then – “you should have known” – launched was too much. “The resignation of Schneider and others hurts a lot,” said Schirdewan.
Financial expert Fabio De Masi also announced his departure on Tuesday. He no longer wanted to be held responsible for the blatant failure of the key players in this party,” De Masi wrote on Twitter. His decision was a longer process, the “current arguments about speeches” were no longer decisive.