Berlin Left: Pressure mounts on lawmaker Emde talks set for October 27
According to Tagesspiegel, even her own district branch in Neukölln speaks of "absolutely disloyal behavior." Expelling her from the parliamentary group would require a two-thirds majority.
Symbolic image · Photo: UMO1 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Pressure is mounting within the Berlin branch of the Left Party on lawmaker Vanessa Emde over her remarks about Israel's right to exist. According to Tagesspiegel, this includes her own district branch in Neukölln. Unnamed party members speak of "absolutely disloyal behavior." Expelling her from the group would require a two-thirds majority of its 45 members; because a motion needs a week's notice, according to Tagesspiegel, a vote could only take place after October 31. A canceled conversation about Emde's position has been rescheduled for October 27, according to the blog Ruhrbarone.
National party leader Luigi Pantisano told Deutschlandfunk that Emde's statement that states have no right to exist, only people do, was correct under international law, but questioned the political intent behind it. The leadership is receiving backing from another quarter: according to Ruhrbarone, the party's Palestine solidarity working group praised a TV appearance by party leader Ines Schwerdtner in which she defended deputy state chair Martha Kleedörfer. The group and the faction "Linke in der Linken" called a plenary meeting at the Karl-Liebknecht-Haus on Friday evening.
The debate comes at a decisive stage in forming a government. The Berlin Left will decide at a state party congress on October 31 whether to begin coalition negotiations with the SPD and the Greens. Before exploratory talks began, the three parties had agreed on rules for dealing with antisemitic statements and incidents.