A former Left Party politician, Sahra Wagenknecht, has sharply criticized the Left Party for not immediately demanding the new German Bundestag be convened to prevent a special session planned for Tuesday. According to Wagenknecht, the party had the chance to use a written request to the President of the Federal Republic to convene the new Bundestag and missed it.
Wagenknecht, who now leads the “Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht”, claimed that her party group would take this step if it were possible. She accused the Left Party of preferring a “comfortable opposition” that only opposes when it does not hurt, rather than taking a stand.
The parliamentary business manager of the Left Party group, Christian Görke, had already rejected the proposal earlier in the day. He stated that the German Constitution does not permit the new Bundestag to be convened by a third of the members of parliament and that the constitution of the new parliament always requires a decision by its majority. Wagenknecht’s proposal was described by him as “a political dumbing down”.
On Tuesday, the old Bundestag is scheduled to meet again to agree on a special fund for military and infrastructure expenditures. The Union, the Social Democratic Party and the Greens had already reached an agreement on the matter in the run-up. In the new Bundestag, the Left Party and the AfD would have a blocking minority against the proposal.