Germany's Left party caps MP salaries at €5,300 and calls Gaza actions genocide at Potsdam congress

Middle East compromise after late-night talks

After hours of debate, mainly behind the scenes, the Left party agreed late on Friday evening on a compromise text on the Middle East conflict. The resolution calls Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip genocide. The former Bremen Left chairman Christoph Spehr, also a spokesman for the reformist Democratic Left grouping, said the text contained "difficult compromises and concessions for everyone, including the Democratic Left". He stressed that the party congress had reaffirmed Israel's right to exist, which he called "indispensable for us". The other flank remained dissatisfied: a member of the Federal Working Group on Palestine Solidarity said the compromise came "far too late and we will carry on".

New chairman stumbles on first day

Luigi Pantisano was narrowly elected party chairman on Saturday, but immediately caused a stir by accusing the CDU of "fascist politics". The remark overshadowed a separate decision to leave it to state associations to decide how to keep the AfD "away from the levers of power". That opens the door for the Left in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to reach agreements with the CDU after the state elections in September, in order to prevent majorities involving the AfD. A motion that would have explicitly ruled out cooperation with the CDU failed to win a majority.

Salary cap for MPs approved

On Sunday, 65.5 percent of delegates voted to cap the salaries of the party's Bundestag and European Parliament members at €5,300 gross per month, equivalent to about €3,300 net for a single person in tax class 1. The cap is pegged to the public-sector collective agreement and is meant to ensure that MPs do not earn more than the "working class". Surplus allowances will flow into social funds linked to the "Die Linke hilft" initiative. The rule takes effect from the next federal and European elections and includes exceptions for MPs with particular financial burdens or those with children or care responsibilities. State associations are urged to adopt analogous rules for state parliamentarians.

Local issues and internal tensions

Several speakers warned that the party was spending too much energy on foreign policy conflicts over which it has little influence. Markus Pohle from the Saxony state association criticised "motion battles on foreign policy conflicts that we have virtually no influence over". Wenke Brüdgam from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, elected as one of six vice-chairs, pointed to concrete everyday problems: "The question for us is: how do I actually get from A to B?" She noted that there are no buses in her rural area and not everyone has a car. Delegate Marco Böhme from Saxony, who already caps his own salary, cautioned that individual life circumstances must be taken into account, noting that not everyone lives in a flat-share with cheap rent and no children or car.