Amid the rise of the far-right in Europe, the Party of the European Left president, Walter Baier, strongly criticised the growing fragmentation and infighting of national leftist parties in several countries while simultaneously accusing the Greens’ “elitist” approach to the green transition of leaving the working class behind in an interview with Euractiv.
While the far-right is surging across the bloc and far-right Identity and Democracy is projected to become the fourth force in the European Parliament with 87 seats, national left-wing forces are increasingly fragmented.
In Spain, Germany, and Greece, left-wing parties have collided due to infighting and splits, with left-wing voters increasingly divided.
“I’m very unsatisfied with the fact that while we experience the rise of the far right, so much energy is invested in inner leftist discussions and struggles. That is inadequate to address the situation in which we are in,” Baier lamented.
“Fragmentation and split are always a defeat,” he told Euractiv.
Faced with national fragmentation, Baier wants his presidency to make the European Left a “safe space” for national forces within and outside the party to dialogue and cooperate in views to create a broad front ahead of EU elections.
“We will have to find a flexible way of integrating different types of parties […] we are trying to establish spaces in which that [cooperation] can happen”, he said, affirming that national fragmentation has not yet permeated to the EU level and welcoming the new leftist parties in Spain, Germany, and Greece to join the European Left.
In the case of France, the party already has two competing forces, the Communist Party and La France Insoumise, a model which Baier would like to see replicated with other EU member states.
Despite fragmentation, Baier optimistically highlighted that left-wing parties can perform well “whenever the left presents itself as a consolidated force with politicians down to earth,” pointing out Ireland, where Sinn Féin is the first force at 28.6%.
On top of that, the Left group in the European Parliament is expected to gain one seat, 37 to 38, according to Euractiv’s latest projections.
“So, I would say the left is in a situation of transition, and it could be doing better, but it’s not doing bad,” he said.
The very ‘particular’ Greek case
The case of the Greek Syriza party split is considered “particular” in the EU left, thinking that Alexis Tsipras was the first leftist leader who became a prime minister at the EU level.
Following successive electoral defeats, he resigned in late June, opening the Pandora’s Box in the Syriza party. Internal elections with a direct vote from party members followed, which Stefanos Kasselakis won.
Read more: A ‘stranger’ becomes Greek left boss, shakes political system
Kasselakis’ victory did not please the traditional leftist figures of the party, who decided to break away. Still, no new party has been officially announced, but 11 lawmakers formed their own “New Left” parliamentary group in the Greek House.
Asked whether the EU Left would accept a new Greek leftist party in its ranks, Baier replied: “For the moment, there exists no party. So, the question is very hypothetical. I can only say that the key persons of the party who left Syriza indicated that they understand themselves as part of the of the Left in Europe […] so we think that we can, at the European level, keep the unity”.
Previously unknown in Greek politics, Kasselakis has been criticised for not representing leftist values, and he is instead presented as a progressive centrist. On the other hand, those who broke away were accused of not respecting the direct vote of party members.
Baier refused to comment on the Kasselakis case but noted: “When Kasselakis was voted, I sent him a letter congratulating him. Syriza is part of the European Left Party, and we respect the internal decisions. It’s impossible from the European level to judge on internal differences in the party”.
After the split, Syriza has seen its performance drop significantly in polls. Meanwhile, for now, the “New Left” does not exceed the 3% threshold to enter the parliament.
Many have asked Tsipras to step in and save the left’s unity. Asked if this should be the case, Baier stated, “Not easy for me to answer […] because I really considered Tsipras as a good friend of mine, and I’m not in a position to give him advice. I don’t know, possibly he has different plans for his personal life.”
“I believe that the Greek left must come into terms with their problems”, he said.
Against Green ‘elitism’
Ecological transformation will be a key topic of the European Left campaign for the EU elections in June, which Baier hopes will attract voters.
“Ecology must not be the issue of enlightened middle-class people; it must become the issue of the working classes”.
Introducing a social component to the green transition is nothing new, though, and will also be a centrepiece of the greens’ and socialists’ campaign, placing all progressive parties in a race targeting the same voters.
But Baier does not see a competition with the Greens and criticises their “elitist” perspective.
“I don’t see the Greens offering an ecological project which takes as a point of departure the interests of the working classes […] Of course, you can design the ecological transformation from the point of view of those layers in the society which somehow are better off, but that means automatically alienating those parts of the population who are worried about their social reality, who have difficulties paying their rents, who have difficulties taking care of their children,” Baier said.
“I feel that the ecological discourse is coming across as very elitist, very scientific, and we must make it popular,” he added.
(Max Griera | Euractiv.com – Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos)
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Source: euractiv.com
