Shortly before the CDU federal party conference at the end of the week in Stuttgart, SPD politicians are urging the coalition partner to drop its hard‑line stance toward the Left party.
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The CDU would do well to re‑evaluate its relationship with Die Linke,
says Jochen Ott, the designated flag‑bearer for the North Rhine‑Westphalia SPD, to the Spiegel.
“The equalisation of the AfD and Die Linke in the incompatibility resolution is no longer appropriate in light of the AfD’s continued radicalisation and trivialises a party that the Interior Ministry’s domestic‑extremism office lists as a right‑wing extremist suspect”.
Ott added that the policy is outdated and undermines the seriousness of the threat posed by the AfD.
Bavarian SPD co‑chair Sebastian Roloff called for a candid debate about the functionality of democracy:
“In the Bundestag, there is no two‑thirds majority without the Left – for constitutional amendments or for the election of constitutional judges”.
He argued that such matters are not merely opposition disputes but touch the very foundation of democratic governance.
Roloff, who is also the SPD parliamentary group’s economic policy spokesperson, told the Spiegel that “it would be politically prudent to finally treat the incompatibility resolution as what it is: a party‑political relic that stands in the way of democratic practice”.
Juso head Philipp Türmer criticised the blanket refusal to work with the Left:
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The blanket veto against any cooperation with Die Linke is a mistake”.
He warned that the Union’s stance could cripple the party’s ability to act and, over the medium term, threaten democracy itself.
“It is time for the CDU to meet reality and abandon this ideological detour” said the SPD youth wing leader.
The CDU has so far categorically rejected “coalitions and similar forms of cooperation” with Die Linke and the AfD.
The incompatibility resolution, adopted at the Hamburg party conference in December 2018, remains unchanged to this day.
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The CDU weakens parliamentary capability by blocking necessary two‑thirds majorities through a blanket exclusion of cooperation with Die Linke, while it simultaneously depends on such cooperation in Thuringia to maintain a functioning minority government” said Ott, chair of the NRW SPD parliamentary group.
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The Union needs to resolve this glaring contradiction”.
Türmer reminded that Die Linke, unlike the AfD, is a democratic party.
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Those who diminish democratic forces while right‑wing extremism grows have not understood the problem”.
He stressed that all democratic forces are necessary in state parliaments and the Bundestag.
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Holding onto nonsensical resolutions merely to avoid stating the obvious only weakens the country in the end”.