“I hope that we exclude them” – Gysi wants to get rid of Left MP Vanessa Emde

The pressure on the Berlin Left is increasing - now also from within their own party. Left-wing legend Gregor Gysi (78) supports a red-red-green government in the capital, but wants MP Vanessa Emde (45) to be excluded from the left-wing faction in the Berlin House of Representatives.

In an interview with Paul Ronzheimer, he said about his party colleague: “I hope that we exclude her.” Among other things, Emde spoke out against Israel's right to exist and posed for photos with terrorist activist Ibrahim Ibrahim.

The background: In his podcast, Ronzheimer Gysi addressed positions that are represented in parts of the Left Party, including calls for Intifada and constant doubts about Israel's right to exist. Gysi's verdict: "This is anti-Semitic and, above all, out of the question for my party." He draws the line at Israel's right to exist. Gysi: “We need red lines that cannot be crossed.”

But it is precisely these red lines that the left seems to find difficult to enforce. Gysi referred to the experiences with exclusions in the SED. That's why the hurdles are particularly high. “Now we are a bit victims of our own actions and we have to scale it back a bit,” he said.

On the sidelines of the Left party conference, Emde took part in a rally against the course of her own party leadership. The group leadership had previously stated that there was no longer any common basis for working with them. Emde is threatened with expulsion from the parliamentary group - but two thirds of the Left MPs would have to agree to this. Whether such a clear majority is behind it is not certain. A concrete decision is still pending.

According to Gysi, not everything has been clarified yet regarding the contacts of the Berlin Left Bundestag member Ferat Koçak (47) with the Berlin Remmo clan: “No, everything is not clear to me, but it has largely been clarified.” Koçak “made a mistake”. And there could still be consequences: "There are probably still a few open questions that will also be clarified. And then we will also comment on them. And if consequences have to be drawn, we will draw them too."

There are quite a few who are afraid

The clan contacts and anti-Semitism scandals in the party for left-wing election winner Elif Eralp (45), who wants to move into the Red City Hall as governing mayor, are particularly sensitive. Gysi spoke about the concerns of Jewish Berliners: “There are quite a few who are afraid.”

Gysi said that Eralp would particularly prove herself because of the allegations against her party: "Precisely because she has this reputation, she will even make special efforts in this regard. Someone who doesn't need that because he is under no pressure is much weaker."

The left-wing politician even believes that red-green-red at the federal level is possible in the long term. For him, the alliance would be “a fantastic prospect compared to the participation of the AfD”. Could it really come to that? “Well, that’s definitely possible,” says Gysi. In the past, practically everything would have spoken against it: “But it can happen,” says Gysi.