The cadres who founded the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) in Germany after leaving the Left Party (Die Linke) are exploring the possibilities of European cooperation after the European Parliament (EP) elections in June.
According to forecasts, the BSW could become the largest delegation to the left of the Greens after the EP elections.
Last month, the BSW announced that it had gathered enough partners to form a new left-wing group in the EP, prompting rumours that a new BSW-led group could break up the existing left-wing GUE/NGL group.
However, as none of the allies with whom the BSW said it had agreed have come forward, it is not known who its partners might be, leading Die Linke to suggest that this is an ‘electoral trick’.
It was agreed that the negotiations would be kept secret,” Fabio de Masi, BSW’s leading candidate in the EP elections, told Euractiv, refusing to provide information until after the elections.
LFI, Smer and M5S say there are no talks
Members of the current left group in the EP (GUE/NGL), in particular the Nordic parties, who could be reached for comment, rejected the talks.
The largest members of the group, The Left and Unbowed France (French: La France Insoumise – LFI), were not involved in the talks, Euractiv reported.
De Masi, on the other hand, seems to have excluded Greece’s Syriza, which has been “collapsing” since it was recently taken over by a “multimillionaire”.
A representative of Slovakian leader Robert Fico’s party, Direction-Social Democracy (Smer), told Euractiv that they are not negotiating with the BSW, and the same goes for Italy’s 5 Star Movement (M5S).
Some left parties may stay away for ‘ideological’ reasons
An important reason why left parties are openly distancing themselves from such plans may be the ideological position of the BSW, which is controversial among some national members of the GUE/NGL, who see the BSW as ‘right-wing’.
The BSW’s political themes include ‘green’ policies, the ‘cancellation culture’ and the ‘regulatory madness of the EU technocracy’, and the party wants to return power from Brussels to the member states.
The party’s leader, Sahra Wagenknecht, also opposes arms supplies to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, which she says harm European consumers. As a result, some in mainstream German politics have labelled her ‘pro-Russian’.
None of us is saying that Putin is a model democrat or anything like that,” De Masi says.
De Masi believes ‘leftism’ is no longer synonymous with fighting economic inequality
De Masi told Euractiv that the BSW’s ideology stems from “the conflict between the social interests of the majority and (…) big business”.
De Masi stressed that he wanted to focus on economic injustice in parliament and had made a name for himself as a Die Linke MEP in the prosecution of economic crime.
He believes that the BSW is committed to diplomacy and opposes the alleged burden on the lower classes caused by the impact of EU sanctions on the European economy.
On the other hand, de Masi agrees with the criticism that the BSW is not ‘left-wing’, claiming that this label no longer means fighting economic injustice.
