Berlin: Left leader hopes Vanessa Emde will give in

The Berlin Left Chairwoman Kerstin Wolter hopes that the controversial MP Vanessa Emde will give in after the call to waive her mandate. For them it is a matter of course to give Emde the chance to change their behavior, said Wolter on RBB Inforadio this morning. »And if she did that, then I would be happy that she could also be part of the parliamentary group and part of a constructive team [...]. But at the moment she definitely doesn’t seem that way.”

Wolter now defended this decision. Among other things, Emde's behavior at the state party conference last weekend was "the last straw," Wolter told RBB. She was a delegate there, but did not fulfill her mandate and instead attended a rally that was "directed against the Berlin Left." Wolter added: "You couldn't show more clearly where you stand and where you don't want to be, namely part of and in the team of our party."

The behavior of the MPs has been the subject of discussion for weeks. Emde was newly elected to the House of Representatives on September 20th. With a first vote of 46.2 percent, she won a direct mandate in her constituency in Neukölln. Among other things, she is accused of casting doubt on Israel's right to exist.

At a rally against her party leadership on the sidelines of a Left Party conference, she expressly declared her solidarity with a controversial pro-Palestinian activist. According to the democ association, which deals with anti-democratic movements, he is committed to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is classified as a terrorist organization in the EU and the USA.

After the House of Representatives election in September, the Left is aiming for a coalition with the Greens and the SPD in the capital, but this is being made more difficult, among other things, by allegations of anti-Semitism against individual left-wing politicians. Emde is at the center of this. Despite a joint declaration of anti-Semitism by the three potential partners, she had repeatedly made public statements in a manner that was understood as a rejection of the State of Israel's right to exist.