Withdrawal of Lafontaine: Napoleon resigns from the Saar

Lafontaine was once a candidate for chancellor and chairman of the SPD. Most recently, as the leader of the Left Party, he mainly engaged in skirmishes with his own party – now he wants to retire.

There is an icy silence in the meeting room of the left parliamentary group in Saarland. Everyone is waiting for the chairman, Oskar Lafontaine, who is a few minutes late. It is clear to everyone that it would be uncomfortable. On the agenda is the expulsion of the longtime MP Barbara Spaniol. Spaniol is the deputy of the state chairman Thomas Lutze, whom Lafontaine calls a fraud and fights bitterly.

The state party is irreconcilably split into two camps. Group leader Lafontaine accuses party leader Lutze of buying votes and manipulating the membership file. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating Lutze on suspicion of forging documents. He himself speaks of a dirt campaign and denies all allegations.

Spaniol did not defend the parliamentary group sufficiently against attacks from the state executive, is one of the allegations. Trust has been destroyed and cooperation is no longer possible. The debate takes an hour and a half. Spaniol takes a stand, defends himself. The vast majority of the group cannot change its mind. That she has to go – probably just a matter of form.

Lutzes victory is a defeat for Lafontaine

The escalation began on the evening of the federal election. Lutze secured his mandate, a bitter defeat for Lafontaine, who had previously openly called not to vote for the left in Saarland. A day later, the 78-year-old announced that he would not run again as the top candidate of the Left Party in the state elections next March.

“That this has significance for the election results in the Saar should be clear to anyone who knows a little about the connections between elections,” explained Lafontaine. He was always the guarantee of success for the Saar left in state elections. In 2009 the party got more than 21 percent of the vote, in 2017 it still got 12.8. The re-entry into the state parliament in March will be difficult without him, especially since the party delivers a catastrophic image to the outside world.

Recently, Lafontaine’s influence within the party has become smaller and smaller. Now he is leaving – and the others are not supposed to stay. It is this destructive element, the taking of revenge, that irritates. And that you know from what was once really big on the federal political stage.

Once the SPD, today the left

In March 1999, Lafontaine made one of the most spectacular resignations in the history of German politics. He was federal finance minister and chairman of the then strong SPD. In protest against Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s policy on the agenda, he threw everything down from one day to the next: party chairmanship, ministerial office, parliamentary mandate.

Lafontaine followed him again and again. And finally set off for new shores. He was a co-founder of the Left Party, and for years the parliamentary group and party chairman. But he has also become estranged from this party. “The adoption of green policy content – open borders for everyone, strong emphasis on minority issues and climate protection by increasing the price of petrol, gas and heating oil – is the cause of the loss of confidence among employees and pensioners …” he analyzes the disastrous result of the left in the federal elections.

It’s a bitter goodbye. Lafontaine once fought great battles, for example when he ousted his former companion Rudolf Scharping from the top of the SPD in 1995. For more than 50 years, as he himself puts it, he served the “res publica”, that is, the common good. But its heyday is long gone. Today Lafontaine does not succeed in asserting himself against a largely unknown member of the Bundestag.

A tragic end – when it’s the end

As a pensioner, it is difficult to imagine this gifted speaker and through-and-through politician. He has not conclusively answered whether the withdrawal from the left really marks the end of Lafontaine’s political career. There are speculations that the 78-year-old could run for the state elections in March with his own list. The chances of making it into parliament are good. That would do massive damage to the left.

However, it would be just another step towards saying goodbye in installments, which some are already watching with pity. For the second time, Lafontaine is settling accounts with a party he once led.

It is the tragic end of a great political career. If it really is the end.