The left wants to go into the 2024 election campaign with classic issues and with the demand for particularly strict climate protection. Now she finds prominent faces for it.
The Linke-Spitzen want to set up the refugee activist Carola Rackete and the social medicine specialist Gerhard Trabert as prominent faces for the 2024 European elections. The chairmen Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan officially presented the plans. In the long-term dispute with the former faction leader Sahra Wagenknecht, they hope for new impetus and a clear profile for the party.
“The Left is opening up to those who are committed, to those who are active in the social movements of civil society,” said Wissler in Berlin. “In this way we show: The left is part of a left pole of hope that is larger than itself.”
Rackete wants to remain independent
Rackete is to become a top candidate alongside Schirdewan, currently the leader of the Left Party in the European Parliament. The 35-year-old captain became internationally known in 2019 when she sailed to the island of Lampedusa with refugees rescued from distress on the ship Sea Watch, despite a ban by the Italian authorities. Criminal proceedings followed, but were discontinued in 2021.
Rackete is also a supporter of the climate group Extinction Rebellion and sees himself primarily as an ecologist. She described the climate crisis as “the result of capitalist mismanagement and exploitation” and as the world’s greatest crisis of justice.
In her own words, she sees her candidacy for the Left State Association of Saxony as an opportunity to anchor the social and ecological movements in the European Parliament. But she wanted to remain independent, she announced.
Trabert: “I’m back”
This also applies to Trabert, who had already run for the office of Federal President in 2022 as a non-party for the left. The doctor has been taking care of the poor and homeless in Mainz for decades, but is also involved in refugee aid. He is to take fourth place on the list for the European elections, behind trade unionist Özlem Demirel.
“I’m back,” joked Trabert, referring to his 2022 presidential candidacy, when he lost to incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The 67-year-old cited the large number of poor and homeless people in the European Union as the main reason for his candidacy for the European Parliament.
The strength of the right-wing populists is also related to the fact that people do not feel that politicians take notice of them. He wants to counter those “who are just so far away from the reality of life for many people”.
Officially, the candidates for the European elections will only be nominated at a left-wing party conference in Augsburg in mid-November. It is unclear whether the nominees will be well received throughout the party.
The left under pressure
Wissler and Schirdewan are under pressure because of poor election results and poll numbers from the left and because of the dispute with Sahra Wagenknecht. This is considering founding a new party, but has not yet made a decision. Critics accuse her of some of her positions no longer being left-wing.
Among other things, Wagenknecht calls for a stricter migration policy and the import of cheap fossil fuels, such as natural gas from Russia. She rejects the economic sanctions imposed on Moscow because of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Wissler and the four nominees for the European elections emphasized classic left-wing positions: social justice; particularly strict climate protection flanked by aid for the poor; higher wages and pensions, and higher taxes on the rich and high earners.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
