Berlin's Left Party group meets for the first time – row over lawmaker Emde
The Left's new group in the Berlin state parliament constitutes itself on Tuesday. It is unclear whether Neukölln lawmaker Vanessa Emde will be admitted; SPD and Greens expect a signal.
Symbolic image · Photo: Gunnar Klack / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The newly elected Left Party group in Berlin's state parliament holds its first, constituent meeting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, after the official final election result was announced on Monday. According to Tagesspiegel, it is unclear whether all those elected will be admitted. Media reports say the leaders of the Left, the Greens and the SPD agreed that Neukölln constituency winner Vanessa Emde should not join the group; nobody has confirmed this publicly. Emde said in May: "There is no right of existence for states."
The background is an agreement the three parties reached before exploratory talks began: they commit to protecting Jewish life and Israel's right to exist, with expulsion from party or parliamentary group threatened for violations. According to Tagesspiegel, the Left group plans to amend its statutes so that lawmakers must abide by party decisions and programme, with sanctions up to expulsion from the group for violations. There is resistance within the party: by Monday morning, 233 people had signed an open letter against the agreement, including 64 Berlin party members.
Exploratory talks at the Haus der Statistik continued on Monday; according to Tagesspiegel, the budget and the socialisation of large housing companies remain the most difficult issues. A paper is due this week. The Left has postponed to Oct. 31 the state party conference that is to decide on coalition negotiations. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) urged the SPD and the Greens to end the talks "immediately."