Former Thuringian Minister-President Bodo Ramelow can imagine cooperation of the Left with a federal government led by Friedrich Merz (CDU). The Left faction in the Bundestag described Ramelow to the “Spiegel” as “equally compromising as my faction in the Thuringian Landtag is”. The Left has a high degree of commonality with the other democratic parties.
Ramelow only ruled out voting with the AfD. “I have nothing in common with the AfD and will not make common cause with it” the Left politician said. Already in Thuringia, he had always fought for abstaining from votes “that can only be won by using the AfD’s blackmail potential for oneself”.
The Left holds a theoretical blocking minority in the future Bundestag with the AfD. With it, the factions could, for example, prevent a reform of the debt brake, which requires a two-thirds majority. The Left excludes any cooperation with the AfD.
Ramelow himself would agree to a relaxation of the debt brake. The rule hinders, for example, investments in the rail network. “You will see Abgeordneter Ramelow very lively in the Bundestag” he said.
Ramelow was the first and so far only left-wing Minister-President of Germany. He governed Thuringia from 2014 to 2024 with a few weeks of interruption. Previously, he sat in the Bundestag for a term and is now returning there: As “Silverlocke” he had fought for direct mandates together with Left politicians Gregor Gysi and Dietmar Bartsch.