Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht calls for dismantling of the EU – draft programme for European elections

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Sahra Wagenknecht: Ex-Left Star wants to run with BSW in European elections

Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) wants to prune the European Union in the event of an election victory and, among other things, wind down the previous climate protection policy. For example, trading in CO₂ certificates is to be abolished. "This certificate trading is completely unsuitable for achieving climate policy goals," says the draft of the new party's European election program, which is also available to SPIEGEL. Initially, the »Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung« and the news agency dpa had reported. In addition, the BSW calls for the unlimited use of combustion engines and the return to imports of oil and gas from Russia.

The Sahra Wagenknecht alliance was officially founded last week and wants to run for the first time in the European elections on 9 June. The draft programme is to be discussed at a party congress on 27 January.

Against EU enlargement

The paper is fundamentally critical of the EU in its current form and calls for its dismantling: "The EU in its current constitution is damaging the European idea," it says. The goal is formulated: "What can be better and more democratically regulated locally, regionally or at national level must not be left to the regulatory frenzy of EU technocracy."

If necessary, Germany should not adhere to EU rules: The BSW advocates "the non-implementation of EU requirements at the national level if they run counter to economic reason, social justice, peace, democracy and freedom of expression". This would contradict the principle that EU rules are binding on all 27 member states. They are negotiated by governments together with the EU Parliament.

The draft BSW programme goes on to state that the EU budget should not grow any further and that the EU should not receive its own revenues. In addition, no new members were to be added for the time being, not even Ukraine. What is needed is "a moratorium on EU enlargement."

Demand for a ban on arms exports to Ukraine

On the other hand, the draft argues for more independence: "Europe must become an independent actor on the world stage, instead of being a pawn in the conflict between the great powers and vassal of the USA." Europe must also "no longer be a digital colony of the United States", but needs an independent digital infrastructure.

It continues: "The war in Ukraine is a bloody proxy war between NATO and Russia." The war was "militarily started by Russia, but it could have been prevented by the West and could have been ended long ago." What is needed is a ceasefire and peace negotiations. "In order to motivate Russia to start negotiations, the immediate stop of all arms exports to Ukraine should be offered in this case," the paper says.

In migration policy, the draft repeats Wagenknecht's well-known position: asylum procedures at the EU's external borders or in third countries and combating the causes of flight. And Wagenknecht's criticism of so-called cancel culture can also be found: "In the attitude of a modern Ministry of Truth, many politicians and journalists or the so-called fact-checkers today claim to determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong." Part of this cancel culture is the EU's Digital Service Act, which must be withdrawn. According to the EU Commission, it sets requirements for platforms that are systemically important in the internal market and is intended to protect the fundamental rights of users.

czl/buc/dpa