Two politicians little known in the public lead the left as a leading candidate in the European elections in 2019. The 43-year-old Martin Schirdewan prevailed at the party congress in Bonn with 83.8 percent of the delegates votes against another candidate. The 34-year-old Özlem Demirel was elected with 84.4 percent of the vote.
Schirdewan has been a member of the European Parliament since 2017 and is responsible for economic and monetary affairs. In Bonn, he called for a break with the EU's "false austerity and austerity policy". Demirel is a trade union secretary at Ver.di and served as regional leader of the Left in North Rhine-Westphalia until 2018 for four years. She called for more sense of optimism on the left for Europe and said that the EU should no longer allow people to drown in the Mediterranean.
Previously, the party had adopted its internally controversial Europe program. In it, the party calls for far-reaching reforms of the EU, but does not fundamentally question the international community. Claims concern the points
- Traffic: Buses and trains should be possible without a ticket - financed by taxes or a fee similar to the broadcasting fee.
- Rent: Public agencies should be allowed to confiscate vacant apartments and expropriate owners - so they can be rented again and relax the housing market.
- Work: Minimum wages should amount to 60 percent of the average salary in all EU states - for Germany, the party demands a minimum wage of twelve euros.
- Environment: Carbon leakage in the whole of Europe until 2030
- Disarmament: ban on all European arms exports
- Democracy: EU-wide referendums and decisions
- Taxes: Higher taxes for Internet giants like Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google
The left represents seven MPs in the European Parliament. In the recent election in 2014 she had come to 7.4 percent of the vote.