Among its manifesto commitments, the party advocates an end to all arms exports

Germany’s Left party (Die Linke) on Sunday adopted a national platform with a focus on social care that also calls for the NATO alliance to be scrapped.

Although the party has no realistic chance of forming a government, it could have a say in policy as part of a future coalition.

What is the Left party promising?

Foreign policy: An end to all foreign deployments of the Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr. The party wants to replace NATO with a collective security system involving Russia. In addition, the party advocates an end to all arms exports.

Climate change: An energy revamp with a focus on renewable energy. The party also wants to phase out coal by 2030 at the latest and to see Germany climate-neutral by 2035.

Transport: The manifesto would commit to a goal of local public transport free of charge, and for rail travel to also become cheaper. There would also be a ban on domestic flights of less than 500 kilometers (310 miles).

Christian Democratic Union (CDU)

The CDU has traditionally been the main center-right party across Germany, but it shifted toward the center under Chancellor Angela Merkel. The party remains more fiscally and socially conservative compared to parties on the left. It supports membership of the EU and NATO, budgetary discipline at home and abroad, and generally likes the status quo. It is the largest party in the Bundestag.

Christian Social Union (CSU)

The CSU is the sister party of the CDU in Bavaria and the two-act symbiotically at the national level (CDU/CSU). Despite their similarities, the CSU is generally more conservative than the CDU on social issues. The CSU leader and premier of Bavaria, Markus Söder, ordered crosses in every state building in 2018.

Social Democrats (SPD)

The SPD is Germany’s oldest political party and the main center-left rival of the CDU/CSU. It shares the CDU/CSU support for the EU and NATO, but it takes a more progressive stance on social issues and welfare policies. It is currently in a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and is trying to win back support under interim leaders Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, Manuela Schwesig and Malu Dreyer.

Alternative for Germany (AfD)

The new kid on the block is the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. The far-right party was founded in 2013 and entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2017 under the stewardship of Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland. It is largely united by opposition to Merkel’s immigration policy, Euroscepticism, and belief in the alleged dangers posed by Germany’s Muslim population.

Free Democrats (FDP)

The FDP has traditionally been the kingmaker of German politics. Although it has never received more than 15 percent of the vote, it has formed multiple coalition governments with both the CDU/CSU and SPD. The FDP, today led by Christian Lindner, supports less government spending and lower taxes but takes a progressive stance on social issues such as gay marriage or religion.

The Greens

The Greens, led today by Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, emerged from the environmental movement in the 1980s. Unsurprisingly, it supports efforts to fight climate change and protect the environment. It is also progressive on social issues. But strong divisions have occasionally emerged on other topics. The party famously split in the late 1990s over whether to use military force in Kosovo.

The Left

The Left, led by Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, is the most left-wing party in the Bundestag. It supports major redistribution of wealth at home and a pacifist stance abroad, including withdrawing Germany from NATO. It emerged from the successor party to the Socialist Unity Party (SED) that ruled communist East Germany until 1989. Today, it still enjoys most of its support in eastern Germany.

Author: Alexander Pearson

Immigration: The party advocates residence and work permits regardless of employment duration and for the qualifications of non-EU citizens to be recognized. It rejects the notion of deportation, especially where war and persecution are a reality.

Social care: The party wants 200,000 more nursing staff in hospitals and nursing homes, and an increase in basic pay for employees. It also wants a statutory staffing level, and for hospital and care groups to be transferred to public ownership.

Tax: The party advocates a wealth tax with a progressive rate and an exemption amount for private assets of €1 million ($1.2 million). It also wants a tax rate of 53% from €70,000. A wealth tax of 60% is to be levied on incomes of just under €261,000, and 75% on incomes of over €1 million.

Labor: A minimum wage of €13 (currently €9.50). Temporary employment and fixed-term contracts without a fixed term would be abolished. The party also proposes a four-day week of around 30 hours as a normal work model.

Health: A rent cap throughout Germany. The Left party also wants to promote social housing construction with €15 billion annually.

Pensions: The Left party wants to introduce a minimum pension of €1,200. Instead of retirement at 67, employees should again be able to retire at 65 at the latest without deductions.

Janine Wissler and Dietmar Bartsch, who are the co-leader of the party and the co-leader of its parliamentary faction respectively, are to be the party’s flagbearers in the lead up to the September 26 election.

rc/nm (AFP, dpa)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-left-party-plans-to-scrap-nato-end-troop-deployments/a-57973017

The post Germany’s Left party plans to scrap NATO, end troop deployments first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A day after Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Social Democrat challenger Martin Schulz muddled through a television standoff lampooned as “more of a duet than a duel,” the country’s smaller parties clashed in a pair of fast-paced, engaging debates in the race for third place.

In contrast to the largely harmonious exchanges between Merkel and Schulz on Sunday evening, Monday’s debates left little doubt about the differences between the smaller parties. In back-to-back confrontations, the first between the junior parties now in parliament — the Christian Social Union (CSU, the Bavarian sister-party of Merkel’s conservatives), the Greens and the Left party — and a second one that added the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), candidates squared off on issues ranging from domestic security to tax policy to digitalization.

Though both debates were shorter than Sunday’s 97-minute marathon between Merkel and Schulz, the moderators managed to cover more ground and for the most part succeeded in keeping the candidates on topic.

At several points, the exchanges became heated, a reflexion of how tight the race is between the cluster of parties vying for third.

“Everything you’re saying is wrong, it’s a bald-faced lie,” Left party leader Dietmar Bartsch told his Green rival when challenged about his party’s environmental record.

The FDP, Greens, the Left and AfD are all at between 8-10 percent in the polls, suggesting the shape of the next government could be decided by a very slim margin.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the CSU stand at a combined 38 percent. Their preferred partner is the FDP, but it’s far from certain the party will win enough votes for a two-way coalition. That could force either a three-way combination with the Greens or another grand coalition between Merkel’s bloc and the SPD.

In Monday’s debates the CSU candidates, as representatives of the current government, found themselves under fire from all sides.

Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the CSU struggled to defend his handling of the ongoing diesel scandal. The studio audience broke into laughter when Dobrindt said the government had done everything in its power to deal with the manipulations by Germany’s auto companies.

When Dobrindt tried to blame the Greens for the threat of diesel car bans now hanging over many German cities, Green leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt shot back: “It was your responsibility to undertake regular controls … the driving bans are yours because you didn’t ensure that the rules were respected.” The audience applauded.

The second debate, which included FDP chief Christian Lindner and AfD candidate Alice Weidel, was no less feisty.

Overall, the candidates for the Left, the FDP and the Greens appeared to score the most points, though there wasn’t a clear victor in either of the two debates. The CSU and AfD representatives, meanwhile, seemed largely on the defensive and isolated.

Though the candidates offered detailed arguments on the fight against terror and the refugee crisis, the primary focus was domestic. Both Turkey and Russia were discussed, but surprisingly little attention was devoted to Europe. As was the case with Merkel and Schulz, hot button topics in the EU, such as Brexit, French President Emmanuel Macron’s blueprint to reform the eurozone and Poland, weren’t even mentioned.

Nonetheless, most observers welcomed the aggressive back-and-forth as a kind of vindication for Germany’s political culture after Sunday’s lackluster performance.

“There is still passion in Germany’s political landscape after all,” German talkshow host Frank Plasberg declared at the close of Monday’s debates.

Source: http://www.politico.eu/article/germanys-small-parties-go-for-the-jugular/

The post Germany’s small parties go for the jugular first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.