More pensions, less weapons: New party to save Germany from AfD

(Patria) - Promising to save Germany from the far-right, a new left-wing party has offered a populist recipe of high pensions, low defense spending, and an end to expensive climate policy in its first foray ahead of regional and European elections this year, Reuters reports.

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), named after its leader, the popular former Left Party leader, held its first national congress on Saturday, with delegates attacking the entire political spectrum from left to right.

With the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) gaining around 20% support in national opinion polls, many analysts speculate that the BSW, at 8% in polls in one eastern state, could reduce the AfD's strength.

The AfD remains behind the opposition conservatives who are at 31%, but still far ahead of all three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left coalition, which together had 32% of the vote.

- We are afraid for democracy, we are afraid that the AfD will capture the anger and dissent in the country - said Wagenknecht.

In some policy areas, it differs little from the AfD. She also wants to stop arms deliveries to Ukraine, arguing that they prolong the conflict.

In a former cinema on Karl-Marx-Allee in East Berlin, she and her party colleagues condemned Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left coalition for being more preoccupied with identity politics than with people's material concerns.

The party has a strong base in former East Germany, where its message of high social spending and a basic level of financial security is welcomed by many.

Wagenknecht, born in East Germany to an Iranian father and a German mother, described the government and the opposition as agents of the rich.

- Maybe Robert Habeck (Minister of Economy and Climate Change) thinks everyone lives in modern houses or well-insulated attics, so he thinks it's a great idea to force everyone to install a heat pump - said Wagenknecht.

The party's first electoral test will come later this year in three state elections in the east, where the AfD has as much as 31% in opinion polls, making it almost impossible to bypass in any coalition negotiations.

Wagenknecht has rejected cooperation with the AfD.