Germany
Sahra Wagenknecht’s decision to leave Die Linke brings clarity, but at a high cost
Following years of turmoil, a resolution has finally been reached inside Die Linke, the democratic socialist party in the German parliament closely linked to the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. Sahra Wagenknecht, previously Die Linke’s parliamentary co-speaker and one of its best-known faces, announced her resignation from the party on Monday together with nine other MPs. They will now form a new organization, Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), to prepare the launch of a new party in early 2024....
read more "“A Heavy Blow”"
read more "“A Heavy Blow”"
Event ReportOn 8-9 June 2023 the Brussels Office of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung (RLS) hosted a workshop in Malmö to facilitate the exchange of experiences and strategies between several left-wing parties grappling with the issue of security policy, particularly in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The event was held face-to-face and invitation-only to guarantee an atmosphere of trust and confidentiality to participants.
The workshop brought together 20 party activists and decision-makers from the political left in Sweden, ...
read more "“Security and the Left” – Impact Workshop"
read more "“Security and the Left” – Impact Workshop"
Voting on 12 February will determine whether the city continues to shift away from neoliberalism or tacks back to the rightOn 12 February, the September 2021 elections for the Berlin House of Representatives and district councils will be repeated due to irregularities in several constituencies, a little over a year after the September 2021 election resulted in a clear majority for the incumbent “red-green-red” coalition between the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the socialist party Die Linke that has governed ...
read more "Berlin’s Repeat Elections and the Social Democrats’ Dilemma"
read more "Berlin’s Repeat Elections and the Social Democrats’ Dilemma"
In June 2022, the Brussels Office of Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung hosted a workshop in Copenhagen to better understand and compare the central issues, experiences and strategies of left-wing parties’ participation in, or support of, governments in the region. The event was face-to-face and by-invitation only to guarantee an atmosphere of trust and confidentiality to participants.
The workshop brought together 30 party activists and decision-makers from among the political left in Sweden, Denmark and Germany.[1] Participation ...
read more "Impact workshop: “The Left in Power”, Copenhagen 9-10 June"
read more "Impact workshop: “The Left in Power”, Copenhagen 9-10 June"
Germany’s new “traffic light coalition” promises a little bit of progress on crucial issues, but not much elseThe results of the recent German federal election have shifted the country’s political landscape. On 24 November, the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and the Free Democrats (FDP) presented their coalition agreement. There is no single dominant party-political force in the new Bundestag holding more than one third of the seats, which means no single party will be able to prevent an amendment to the Constitution.
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read more "There Will Be Change — But How Much and Where Will It Take Us?"
read more "There Will Be Change — But How Much and Where Will It Take Us?"
A reshuffling of the political centre and a disaster for the LeftLa version française est disponible pour téléchargement ci-dessous
The election to the twentieth session of the German parliament, the Bundestag, marked the end of 16 years of Angela Merkel’s chancellorship. Together with her administration, an upheaval in the party system has come to a temporary end: after the Social Democrats (SPD), the Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social union (CDU/CSU)—the last remaining old-style “people’s ...
read more "Breaking Down the 2021 German Federal Election"
read more "Breaking Down the 2021 German Federal Election"
Analysis and Strategy on Right-Wing PopulismThe book is available for download here!
Over the past decade, many countries have seen the rise and consolidation of support for right-wing populist movements and parties. This development is being increasingly reflected in parliaments and governments alike and now poses a serious challenge, both to parties of the left and to the values at the heart of liberal democracy.
For the past two years, the Copenhagen-based Democracy in Europe Organisation (DEO) has teamed up with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office (RLS) on a ...
read more "Don’t Panic"
read more "Don’t Panic"
An opinion pieceThe ruling on 15 April 2021 by Germany's Federal Constitutional Court on the rent cap imposed by the Berlin state government is a major blow for the city's Senate, and especially of course for the many Berlin tenants affected. It will also, naturally, have a very sobering effect outside Berlin and Germany, on initiatives, parties and progressive city governments that looked to the flagship Berlin project as a model to be implemented in other European cities. In Berlin as in Paris, Munich, Barcelona, ...
read more "Ruling against Berlin’s rent cap – far from the end of the story"
read more "Ruling against Berlin’s rent cap – far from the end of the story"
REUTERS
A breath of fresh air?Back in April, EU heads of state and government agreed a coronavirus rescue package worth over €500 billion for the countries hardest hit by the crisis. However, the support in this package only took the form of low-interest loans. Now, though, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have presented a plan for a further €500-billion recovery fund that would see aid issued to Member States as grants rather than as repayable loans. Moreover – and this is the most remarkable feature of their proposal – the plan would be ...
read more "Merkel and Macron"
read more "Merkel and Macron"
For the coming weeks, RLS Brussels Office will publish clips from colleagues, comrades, and friends from Europe and beyond giving personal impressions of the crisis, the measures, living and coping. Third part from Melanie Stitz, Regional Office Director, North Rhine-Westphalia.