After the state elections: Pistorius has concerns about government with the Berlin left

SPD Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is against a joint government of his party under the leadership of the Left in Berlin. While there are left-wing regional associations that have behaved constructively in governments such as Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bremen, there are problems in Berlin that cannot be resolved with a few sentences in an exploratory agreement, said Pistorius when asked by the German Press Agency.

The Left in Berlin not only has an unclear relationship to anti-Semitism, but in recent years has also shown no credible willingness to clarify this relationship, he said. Pistorius: “A few lukewarm sentences aren’t enough. That’s a no-go for me.”

The same applies to at least unclear proximity to criminal clans and the attitude towards security authorities such as the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

“I say that very clearly as a former interior minister for many years. The demand to restrict the work of the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, especially in these current times, is something that you hardly hear in this form from any other left-wing regional association," said the former Interior Minister of Lower Saxony. "And that's why a collaboration in Berlin, for which I bear no responsibility, would be hardly imaginable and bearable for me, to put it bluntly."

Pistorius: But don't equate the left with the AfD

At the same time, he warned against excessive criticism of the party. “It is very misleading if you equate the Left with the AfD and put all left-wing regional associations on the same level,” said Pistorius.

The SPD parliamentary group made its protest against the election of AfD politician Tobias Rausch as parliamentary speaker in Saxony-Anhalt clear on Monday with a march through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to Bebelplatz. Pistorius had sharply criticized the day's events and sang the national anthem.

Democrats are still in the majority and must make it clear that they are ready to defend democracy, he told the German Press Agency.

“When we talk about the AfD, we should never give the impression that the AfD is a phenomenon that came out of nowhere,” he said. It is always about the reaction to realities and how they are perceived, also about “how governments of other parties have worked in previous years”. “You can’t argue that away.”

Pistorius said: "But at the same time, you can't deny that if someone votes for the AfD, then he knows, unlike perhaps eight years ago or 10 years ago, that he is voting for an AfD that is right-wing extremist and partly fascist, that comes across as racist and that has no good plans for our democracy and our country."