In front of the 550 delegates, he distanced himself from the goal of a red-red-green alliance: "we are definitely not preparing for a coalition election campaign. We promote our own positions in the election campaign." The left wants to adopt its election program "100 percent social" on saturday. She still disagrees on the attitude to the euro.
The left achieved a record result of 11.9 percent in the 2009 parliamentary elections, but for months has been polling between 6 and 9 percent. SPD and greens have clearly rejected a red-red-green coalition, although they are currently far from a majority of their own.
Left-wing leadership candidate gregor gysi nevertheless expects a red-red-green coalition to come into being in the next legislative period at the latest. At some point, the coalition will exist – "if not in 2013, then four years later," gysi told the "schwabische zeitung" (friday).
But he rejected the idea of tolerating a minority government: "for me, in any case, it’s all or nothing!"
Riexinger accused SPD chancellor candidate peer steinbruck of "playing the clown" for the millionaires. Anyone who is proud of the reform agenda 2010, as the SPD is, is making himself untrustworthy as a left-wing force. "How can you be proud of having sent millions of people into poverty??" Asked the head of the left. "This is not something to be proud of, this is something to be ashamed of."
Meanwhile, former party leader oskar lafontaine reaffirmed his critical stance on the euro. The saarlander considers the european community food for a misconstruction, and speaks out for the return of individual countries to national perceptions. Lafontaine will not explain his euro proposals at the dresden party conference. "I don’t think it’s possible to explain a monetary system in three minutes."
The draft election platform includes a commitment to the euro, but this is qualified by a critical half-sentence: "even though the european monetary union contains major design flaws, the left does not advocate the end of the euro," it says. However, an end to the shortage policy is a prerequisite for the continuation of the economy.
Left-wing leadership candidate sahra wagenknecht did not directly address lafontaine’s position in her speech. But she called for a radical change of course in the EU. If things go on as they are, europe will hit the wall, says deputy party leader. Pensions and wages were reduced, social benefits were cut, while wealthy people and millionaires could live unrestrainedly beyond their means. "This is the policy that is destroying europe."
Lafontaine decided against returning to the bundestag a few weeks ago. But the head of the saarland parliamentary group wants to take part in the election campaign. A year ago, the 69-year-old was instrumental in a bitter power struggle that brought the party to the brink of a split. The chairmen riexinger and katja kipping have contributed significantly to the fact that inner-party conflicts are no longer carried out in public.
The left has put forward eight top candidates for the election campaign, led by gysi and wagenknecht. More than 1,000 amendments have been received for the program, and a large number of them have already been incorporated. But the delegates will still vote on 250 motions this saturday.