Left_party

The following articles have been tagged with "Left_party":

Coalition defends first 100 days of governance

Politics: 5 Feb 10
German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her centre-right coalition on Thursday evening following widespread criticism that the government had bungled its first 100 days in power. READ »

FDP loses popular support in poll

Politics: 27 Jan 10
A new poll on Wednesday showed public support for the pro-business Free Democrats, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partners, had dropped by a third just four months after national elections. READ »

Women touted to replace ailing Lafontaine

Politics: 25 Jan 10
A woman should take over the top position for the socialist party The Left after Oskar Lafontaine’s resignation this weekend, the party’s parliamentary group deputy chairman Bodo Ramelow suggested on Monday. READ »

Leftist chief Lafontaine to step down

Politics: 23 Jan 10
The head of Germany's socialist party The Left, Oskar Lafontaine, will give up his leadership position and his Bundestag seat, party sources said on Saturday. The 66-year-old underwent cancer surgery last year. READ »

Merkel calls minister meeting on Afghanistan ahead of summit

Politics: 22 Jan 10
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called a meeting of top ministers to discuss the country’s plans for Afghanistan ahead of the international summit on the strife-torn country in London on January 28. READ »

Parliamentary probe into Kunduz affair begins

Politics: 21 Jan 10
Germany's parliamentary defence committee on Thursday began its investigation into a deadly air strike called by a Bundeswehr officer in Afghanistan and the subsequent cover-up that forced top officials to resign. READ »

FDP dismisses donation accusations

Politics: 19 Jan 10
The Free Democratic Party (FDP) has dismissed a call made by the Left party for a ban on donations to political parties by private companies, following accusations that the FDP was bribable. READ »

Berlin councils join forces to freeze fascists out of public buildings

Society: 19 Jan 10
Berlin’s local councils have developed a joint strategy to ban far-right, racist and anti-Semitic meetings from being held in public buildings. READ »

Leftist leader Bartsch to step down

Politics: 15 Jan 10
Dietmar Bartsch, the general secretary of Germany‘s socialist Left party, said on Friday he would step down in May after coming under pressure for alleged disloyalty to party leader Oskar Lafontaine. READ »

Coalition loses majority support from public

Politics: 13 Jan 10
Germany’s centre-right government has lost the majority of public support just three months after being elected, a poll published on Wednesday revealed. READ »

When the lights go out in Wallywood

Society: 11 Jan 10
Wallywoods, a seminal gallery for Berlin’s avant-garde art scene, is locked in a Stalingrad-esque struggle for survival with intractable municipal officials. Ben Knight slips behind the lines to talk with its curator of chaos. READ »

Body scanners to come sooner than expected

National: 3 Jan 10
The controversial body scanners that allow security personnel to see though clothing are likely to be fast-tracked into German airports, according to members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives. READ »

Left party calls Hartz IV a 'poverty machine'

Society: 2 Jan 10
The fifth anniversary of the introduction of the social welfare reforms known as Hartz IV is no cause for celebration, Left party vice-chairman Klaus Ernst said Saturday. The Federal Labour Agency also admitted there was room for improvement. READ »

Bavarian interior minister wants Left party watched

Politics: 1 Jan 10
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann has declared his intention to continue having the Bavarian Left party observed by Germany's constitutional protection office. READ »

FDP and Greens report record membership

Politics: 30 Dec 09
2009 was more than a triumphant election year for the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the eco-friendly Green party. They each made a record number of new members. READ »

Westerwelle wary on Afghan troop rise

Politics: 21 Dec 09
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle expressed pointed scepticism about raising the number of German soldiers in Afghanistan on Monday, adding uncertainty to the government’s position on the controversial question. READ »

Left's Lafontaine tipped for comeback after cancer surgery

Politics: 20 Dec 09
The socialist Left party chairman Oskar Lafontaine is planning a return to politics after he recovers from recent prostate cancer treatment, daily Frankfurter Rundschau reported Sunday. READ »

Full-time employment positions declining

Business & Money: 16 Dec 09
The number of Germans able to find full-time jobs subject to social insurance contributions from employers is on the decline, daily Frankfurter Rundschau reported on Wednesday. READ »

Bisky suggests Left and SPD should make up, possibly even fuse

Politics: 5 Dec 09
Head of the socialist Left party, Lothar Bisky has proposed building a new relationship with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and even suggested an eventual fusion could be possible. READ »

Brandenburg parliament rocked by Stasi scandal

Politics: 1 Dec 09
The vice president of the German state of Brandenburg's parliament and another regional official resigned on Monday following revelations of their past links to the East German secret police. READ »

New SPD leaders flag fresh tax approach

Politics: 15 Nov 09
The centre-left Social Democrats will rebuild their reputation as a Volkspartei – or “people’s party” – new chairman Sigmar Gabriel announced Sunday, wrapping up an SPD conference with a clear signal that a new generation is in charge. READ »

Every eighth German wants the Wall back

Society: 8 Nov 09
With celebrations underway across Germany to celebrate the opening of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Communist East German regime, a new survey says a surprising number of Germans wouldn’t mind seeing the barrier go back up. READ »

Ex-GDR officials gripe of persecution 20 years on

National: 6 Nov 09
There’s no question East Germany persecuted its citizens, but have the communist regime’s henchmen been wronged since reunification? David Wroe investigates. READ »

Platzeck calls for reconciliation with former Eastern communists

Politics: 31 Oct 09
Brandenburg’s Minister President Matthias Platzeck has called for reconciliation with the former communists who ruled East Germany. READ »

Thuringia state premier vote turns into three-round fiasco

Politics: 30 Oct 09
What was supposed to be a symbolic vote for Thuringia’s new Christian Democratic (CDU) state premier Christine Lieberknecht turned into a fiasco on Friday. Politicians there held three votes before she was finally elected. READ »

Ministries outsourced laws 60 times since 2000

Politics: 28 Oct 09
Germany's federal ministries have consulted external companies for drafting legislation some 60 times since 2000, daily Saarbrücker Zeitung reported on Wednesday. READ »

Military costs in Afghanistan outstrip reconstruction spending

Business & Money: 21 Oct 09
Germany has spent three times as much on its military deployment in Afghanistan than reconstruction efforts in the war-torn country over the past two years, according to a recent parliamentary inquiry. READ »

CDU and SPD form Thuringia state coalition

Politics: 19 Oct 09
The conservative Christian Democrats and the centre-left Social Democrats have agreed to form a coalition state government in Thuringia after seven weeks of post-election wrangling, the two sides announced on Monday. READ »

Germany to send Kosovar refugees home

National: 14 Oct 09
Some 10 years after the Kosovo conflict, thousands of Kosovar refugees – most of them from the Roma community – are set to return home, daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported this week. READ »

Left coalition set to take power in Brandenburg

Politics: 12 Oct 09
The centre-left Social Democrats announced Monday they will join forces with the socialist Left party to give Brandenburg its first “red-red” coalition, ending a decade of “grand-coalition” rule with the conservative Christian Democrats. READ »

Kaiser falls on sword over Stasi past to smooth red-red coalition

Politics: 11 Oct 09
The Left Party in the state of Brandenburg has cleared the way for a "red-red“ coalition with the Social Democrats after chairwoman Kerstin Kaiser ruled herself out of a ministry on Sunday amid concerns about her past links to the East German Stasi. READ »

Greens hand power to the right in Saarland

Politics: 11 Oct 09
The western state of Saarland is headed for a conservative “Jamaica” coalition after the Greens decided on Sunday to join forces with the Christian Democratic Union and Free Democrats. READ »

Sarrazin wins support for integration comments

Society: 11 Oct 09
Half of Germans agree with controversial remarks by federal bank board member Thilo Sarrazin, who said that most Arab and Turkish immigrants are “neither willing nor able to integrate,” a poll revealed on Sunday. READ »

Number of German MPs with immigration background rises

Politics: 30 Sep 09
Germany’s newly elected parliament has 15 MPs with foreign roots – more than ever before, daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Wednesday. READ »

SPD makes Steinmeier parliamentary leader

Politics: 29 Sep 09
After he failed to oust Angela Merkel from the Chancellery, Social Democratic MPs voted to make outgoing foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier the head of the opposition as the leader of the party's parliamentary group on Tuesday. READ »

Making the SPD relevant through redundancy

Analysis & Opinion: 29 Sep 09
The Social Democrats suffered a resounding defeat in Sunday’s election. Lorenz Maroldt, editor-in-chief of Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel, believes the beleaguered party can now deal with the issues it has neglected for too long. READ »

The Local's live coverage of the 2009 election

Politics: 27 Sep 09
Join The Local for live coverage from the election headquarters of Germany's five main political parties in Berlin. We'll have interviews and insights all evening long. READ »

Merkel's conservatives win with FDP: exit polls

Politics: 27 Sep 09
Early exit polls showed Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives winning Germany's election on Sunday, with a centre-right coalition with the Free Democrats likely. READ »

Former general calls for Afghan withdrawal by 2012

National: 27 Sep 09
A prominent former Bundeswehr general and NATO commander has called for German troops to start pulling out of Afghanistan within three years. READ »

The Left's Sevim Dağdelen: ‘My origins don’t define my political beliefs’

Politics: 22 Sep 09
In the final week before Germany's election, The Local’s series on politicians with non-German roots features The Left party’s MP Sevim Dağdelen, a Turkish-German socialist who says she’s fighting for equality and economic security. READ »

German parties present miniature political utopia in Hamburg

Politics: 15 Sep 09
As Germany's election race draws to a close, Hamburg’s Miniature Wonderland has opened an exhibition which makes it possible for voters to experience the vision of a perfect society as imagined by the country's six biggest parties. READ »

Leftist leader in Thuringia employing ex-Stasi officer as secretary

Politics: 12 Sep 09
Bodo Ramelow, the politician from Germany's socialist party The Left hoping to become the state premier of Thuringia, has reportedly been employing a former Stasi officer in his parliamentary office for years. READ »

The Left party surges in latest opinion poll

Politics: 9 Sep 09
Germany's socialist party The Left has surged to its best level this year in a new opinion poll, while Chancellor Merkel's preferred coalition has lost its potential majority just weeks before the general election. READ »

Trade unionists meet on Left, wary of SPD

Politics: 6 Sep 09
At least 45,000 trade unionists met in the Frankfurt football stadium at the weekend to call for more solidarity and support for jobs – letting normal members rather than politicians take to the stage. READ »

Merkel ahead in polls as election battle heats up

Politics: 2 Sep 09
With 25 days until Germany’s federal elections, Chancellor Angela Merkel looks set to win a second term in power with her preferred centre-right coalition, according to two opinion polls published on Wednesday. READ »

Political parties jockey for power after German state polls

Politics: 1 Sep 09
Parties across Germany’s political spectrum continued to jockey for position on Tuesday after polls in Saxony, Saarland and Thuringia shook up the country’s general election campaign. READ »

Steinmeier exults in SPD state election gains

Politics: 31 Aug 09
Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger hit the final four weeks of election campaigning on Monday claiming he could still win after Merkel's conservatives suffered heavy losses in two states following elections on Sunday. READ »

Early turnout low in state elections

Politics: 30 Aug 09
Early indications suggest that turnout in Sunday's state elections in Saarland, Saxony and Thuringia has been relatively low, despite their importance as fore-runners for next month's general election. READ »

A political primer for Germany's election on September 27

Analysis & Opinion: 27 Aug 09
With just over a month left until Germans head to the polls, Dr. Jackson Janes from the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies offers a primer of what’s at stake for Angela Merkel and her challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier. READ »

Ackermann birthday bash sparks political ire

Politics: 25 Aug 09
Social Democrats and opposition politicians are demanding clarification on why Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted a pricey birthday bash for Deutsche Bank boss Josef Ackermann in April 2008 at the Chancellery. READ »

Scandals besmirch end to world athletics championships

Sport: 24 Aug 09
The IAAF Athletics World Championships concluded with two scandals over the weekend when six athletes were arrested for attacking nightclub doormen and a ZDF sports journalist insulted Berlin’s scruffy Marzahn district. READ »

More than half expect new coalition, most see Merkel staying

Politics: 23 Aug 09
More than half of Germans are expecting a change of government after the September 27 federal election according to a poll published in the weekly Bild am Sonntag newspaper. READ »

East German town campaigns for 1989 revolution monument

Society: 20 Aug 09
The Saxon town of Plauen is seeking to insure its place in history, alongside Berlin and Leipzig, with plans for a memorial to East Germany's peaceful demonstrations ahead of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. READ »

Expert says politicians ignore school drop-outs

National: 17 Aug 09
German politicians grossly underestimate the problem of student drop-outs in Germany, news agency DDP reported on Monday. READ »

Busty poster kicks off campaign controversy

Politics: 11 Aug 09
The campaign for Germany's general election in September only officially began on Sunday, but one Berlin politician has already created a stir with chesty imagery of herself – and Chancellor Angela Merkel. READ »

Bundeswehr shooting restrictions eased

National: 27 Jul 09
Rules of engagement for German forces in Afghanistan are being eased to allow soldiers to use their weapons more often. They will also be allowed to shoot at fleeing attackers, the Defence Ministry announced Monday. READ »

Greens make nuclear shutdown a coalition condition

Politics: 19 Jul 09
Green party top candidate Jürgen Trittin told Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag that shutting down old nuclear power stations would be a condition of entering a government coalition following September’s election. READ »

Shambolic Left party aims to unite for poll

Politics: 21 Jun 09
Shaken by infighting and unable to profit from capitalism's global crisis, the head of Germany’s hard-line socialist Left party urged delegates at its annual conference on Saturday to close ranks for September's election. READ »

Parade in SS uniforms sparks outrage

Society: 19 Jun 09
Police are investigating whether a recent parade in Saxony-Anhalt broke the law by wearing Nazi-era SS and Wehrmacht uniforms. The incident has sparked outrage beyond the borders of the eastern German state. READ »

SPD's Müntefering sharpens attacks on Merkel

Politics: 17 Jun 09
Adopting the role of attack dog as election season heats up, Social Democratic Party boss Franz Müntefering attacked conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, calling her “dishonest” in an interview. READ »

Conservatives lead EU vote as SPD is slammed

Politics: 7 Jun 09
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives suffered losses in Sunday's European elections according to early projections, but they still had a clear lead over the humiliated Social Democrats. READ »

Violets, Pirates and Newropeans look for attention in EU vote

Politics: 5 Jun 09
Voters in Germany will be faced with a mind-boggling 32 political parties when they head to the polls this Sunday for the European elections. The Local has picked out few of the most colourful contenders. READ »

The Greens’ Cramer: 'We're the only really European party'

Politics: 5 Jun 09
Voters across the European Union head to the polls this week to elect a new European Parliament. In the third of a series of interviews with German MEPs, The Local spoke with Michael Cramer from the Green party. READ »

FDP’s Alexandra Thein: ‘The EU should get its priorities straight’

Politics: 4 Jun 09
Voters across the European Union head to the polls this week to elect a new European Parliament. In the second of a series of interviews with German candidates, The Local spoke with Alexandra Thein from the FDP. READ »

EU poll tests German domestic policy

Politics: 2 Jun 09
The European parliament election this Sunday in Germany is a litmus test for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her conservatives ahead of legislative polls in September in the continent's biggest economy. READ »

Rosa Luxemburg's body likely found 90 years after murder

National: 29 May 09
The corpse of German communist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg, murdered in 1919 by right-wing forces, may have been stored in Berlin’s Charité hospital for some 90 years, weekly Der Spiegel reported on Friday. READ »

2,000 protesters expected for Germany’s 60th birthday

National: 22 May 09
Around 2,000 leftists are expected to attend an "anti-nationalist" parade in Berlin on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Federal Republic on Saturday, organisers said Friday. READ »

Köhler favoured to win second term

Politics: 21 May 09
Germany's incumbent President Horst Köhler is favoured to win re-election at the country's ceremonial head of state on Saturday, but analysts said it’s not a sure thing just yet. READ »

Merkel defends her East German past

Politics: 19 May 09
In the ongoing debate over the East German legacy, Chancellor Angela Merkel roundly condemned the former communist regime on Tuesday, but defended her membership in communist youth organisation the FDJ. READ »

Berlin tightens rules on late-term abortions

Politics: 14 May 09
After years of debate, the German parliament has voted to require women seeking late-term abortions to delay the procedure by three days and have an official consultation with a doctor. READ »

SPD claws to highest poll rating this year

Politics: 13 May 09
The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) reached their highest approval rating this year in an opinion poll released by weekly magazine Stern on Wednesday. READ »

Small parties rule out three-way coalitions after election

National: 10 May 09
The general election in September, expected to change a government widely regarded as stuck in an unproductive rut, could produce more of the same – after the two smaller parties this weekend ruled out any three-way grouping. READ »

Authorities brace for May Day violence

National: 30 Apr 09
Germany is bracing for its biggest May Day protests in years amid fears of a rise in social unrest caused by the worst recession since World War II in Europe's biggest economy. READ »

Language test scares off potential citizenship applicants

Society: 29 Apr 09
The number of immigrants becoming naturalised citizens in Germany has dropped by some 15 percent since the country introduced a controversial language test two years ago, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported Wednesday. READ »

Restlessly civil in Germany

Analysis & Opinion: 24 Apr 09
The economy is tanking, people are losing their jobs, but is Germany really on the brink of widespread civil unrest? The Local’s Marc Young explains why you won’t see riots in central Berlin or Munich this summer. READ »