In view of the great dissatisfaction in the east, Left Party leader Martin Schirdewan warns the federal government against cuts in democracy promotion and social programs. “In some regions, the extreme right is working on a hegemony,” Schirdewan told the German Press Agency in Berlin. “Finance Minister Christian Lindner didn’t hear the shot when he started making cuts just then.” The cuts in the federal budget for 2024, which were also criticized by welfare organizations, would “lead to a further escalation, also in East Germany”.
The left chairman drew a bow to climate protection. “The federal government caused a disaster with the heating law without social support and without heat planning and contributed to the increase in the AfD’s poll numbers,” said Schirdewan. “Scepticism about climate protection measures has grown.”
Point out perspectives for climate protection
The majority of the left advocates even more ambitious climate goals than the federal government and wants to make Germany climate-neutral by 2035, ten years earlier than the traffic light coalition. Schirdewan was certain that support for climate protection could grow again if it was socially acceptable. There is a basic willingness. You can “win people over if you show them a perspective on how this can be achieved”.
The following also applies to East Germany: “In the event of industrial change, transport and climate change, industrial jobs must be maintained and created in the East. Otherwise the East has no prospects.” It is important for his party to take clearly recognizable positions and to talk to people on site. “Because of Corona, that wasn’t possible in the past two years. But we’ll be back. We won’t leave the streets and squares to the AfD.”
The right-wing AfD has even higher poll numbers in the eastern federal states than the national average – between 20 and 30 percent, in Thuringia sometimes even more. The left, which used to be strong in the east, is weakening. A Leipzig study showed at the end of June that there is great dissatisfaction with the current implementation of democracy in the eastern federal states.
