Wagenknecht

not to stand in the re-election of the parliamentary group leadership.

The reasons for this are quite simply

that my health has imposed limits for me

and that I'm not willing to continue above a certain level of permanent stress.

2 YEARS PREVIOUSLY...

RIGHT BEFORE THE 2017 BUNDESTAG ELECTION

- Good morning. - Morning.

Taking the stand now is Sahra Wagenknecht for the Left Party parliamentary group.

Believe it or not, we are facing a raft of 13 amendments to the Constitution.

This will undermine federalism as well,

and clear the path to further extensive privatization of public services.

You have no idea!

"No idea!" It's always "no idea".

And there's Lammert sitting there,

and instead of him doing something... Nothing! That's his task.

Not a word.

...will see through their ploys. Your outcry shows how acclimatized you are.

If one of us did that, then within a minute they'd...

- There'd be disciplinary action. - Disciplinary action.

- A call to order. - ...support the renovation of schools.

Last week the SPD supposedly succeeded in...

All of this is non-urgent, right?

Wagenknecht's office, Stachel speaking, hello?

Okay.

No, look here.

- She's due to speak in Wuppertal at 3:30. - Yes.

Maybe if she gets there 15 minutes early,

and the speech was at 3:45, then we'd have half an hour.

And if she only speaks for half an hour...

- Can we fit that in somehow? - I'm just looking.

Oh! Fischi?

Well, I'd say we need 15 minutes.

What do you think?

- I don't know. - Great.

Unless it's enough for a black-yellow coalition.

Then Merkel has to go black-yellow. I think she dreads doing that.

That's why I think the probability of a grand coalition is high,

and the SPD is seemingly really brazen.

Have you ever been accused

of being personally to blame for a red-red alliance failing?

You know, I can't take that seriously. It's so obviously a pretext and an excuse

for their new... or their realignment of policy.

It's not new, but their banking on the CDU-CSU is the most likely way

that they can stay in government, hence their distancing themselves.

And you always put content before personality matters...

What do you mean by personality matters?

I'm not an unbearable person. I think I'm quite nice.

I think when we sat down together,

it wasn't like we wanted to scratch each other's eyes out.

You just get no proper internet on this damn train. It's a black hole.

I heard even in Africa, traveling through the desert, you got internet.

Even in Estonia, every bus, everywhere,

you get Wi-Fi, it's absolutely brilliant.

"Sahra, I want to have a baby with you." Stuff like that.

That's how it's been. That was in 2013.

That's how it was at the start. Not now, but it's grown incredibly.

There are ratings of how well-known people are,

and at over 80 percent, Sahra is right up there.

There are few politicians who are that well-known.

And then it's really this pop star aspect

that gets added to the mix. It's...

I wouldn't like to trade places with the Federal Criminal Police this year,

because they really have to work to earn their money.

Everybody knows one of the main problems facing families in this country,

which is that in most big cities,

at least in inner-city areas, people simply can't find affordable homes.

Then they're surprised as ever more people don't feel represented by their politics

and turn their backs on their policies.

That is exactly their arrogance.

You could have stayed another half-hour.

Yes, yes. If it wasn't so tight with all the appointments,

I'd have done more. People are always so glad.

If we go straight there, it's 56 km.

Yes.

And I'd get there on time.

Surprise...

Yes? Hello? Oskar? Wait a moment.

I'll hand you over to Sahra.

How did you get on in Wuppertal?

There were thousands.

I got on really well in Bielefeld, too.

It was a bit bigger again.

I'll message you in a minute.

See you later. Bye.

Well, not exactly nervous... But you are always a bit tense.

Actually more so with Bundestag speeches, to be honest.

I don't know why. Probably because I'm still quite new to it.

Or at least with Bundestag speeches where you're replying to the Chancellor.

The tension is greater then.

You're worried that... Sometimes you make stupid slips of the tongue,

and everyone hears about it

if you make a slip of the tongue that's particularly funny or stupid.

- Hello. - Hello.

I'm Mia.

Hello. Glad you could make the time.

When you were young, you didn't want to go to kindergarten. Why not?

Well, for one thing, in those days I was a bit of an outsider at kindergarten.

I grew up in the GDR and there were relatively few children who were darker.

I stood out and I was bullied by other kids, who said, "She looks strange."

So I felt a bit ostracized, and then I started to read at a young age.

I learned to read at four and I used to love staying home, reading books.

I found it so interesting. It fascinated me much more than kindergarten,

where we played in the sandbox or whatever.

...to provide pensions, to regulate the labor market.

In theory, that would classically be the SPD.

Much of what we demand used to be the SPD position,

but they have substantially moved away from that.

When I entered politics,

I thought I had to go on TV and make good arguments to the public.

I was convinced that if my arguments were better,

then viewers would realize that.

And then they'd all be convinced.

Then you also learn that besides the arguments, there's a whole other level.

Everything you say is filtered through the world view that you're talking to.

And if the Left isn't considered an acceptable party in that world view,

then you can make 100 good arguments,

and you still won't get through, your point still won't be heard.

For example, when I say we have to tax the super-rich,

people who own a small house may seriously believe I might have meant them,

and are afraid they won't be able to bequeath their house

or that they'll have to pay vast inheritance tax.

These are really problems where I realize

that the public discourse and what gets said about us

sometimes has a far greater effect than what we say ourselves.

- All wet? - It looks wet.

Well, just a bit.

I hope the thing holds up.

Yes, yes.

Sure. We'll have to see who does the panel debate, and so on.

Or do you have any...

- I think... - I'll do it.

I think Sahra wants to do it, and we'll have to see...

Yes, I mean who is going to do the election campaign? I mean...

Yes, but you'll have to discuss it with Sahra, because Sahra wants to do it.

You'll have to discuss that with Sahra.

Because it's not just the party leaders. There are other people, too.

Shit, there's a bad connection in Franconia.

- Can you still hear me? - No, he's gone.

Yes.

And what about that press conference?

As far as I'm concerned, the logic would be that four of us do it,

because, if we have to do it,

the party leaders and the two of us go into the Federal Press Conference.

Of course I would prefer it if you two do the Federal Press Conference,

but they said they insist on going.

Then they should do it alone. I'm starting to find this...

Yes, it's... Hmm. It's unbelievable.

And I wish you lots of strength for the future,

and I hope you become Chancellor.

We'll see! Thank you.

Can I give you m y bag?

Sahra, please come on up to us.

Politics can always finance what it wants to finance.

And what it doesn't finance,

rotting schools, poorly-equipped care homes,

it doesn't want to finance that. It has no interest in doing so.

And that is a problem.

Look at the arms manufacturers who make substantial donations

not only to the CDU and FDP,

but also to the SPD and now even the Greens in Baden-Württemberg.

That is something I'd call corrupt politics.

So, ladies and gentlemen, now I would just like...

to inform you very briefly, since m y time is almost up,

that we...

I mean m y allotted speaking slot. It's...

My God! How far have we come?

How far have we come? Come on, everyone. The election is still a few days away.

Let's let this successful government work, at least today.

You could have ensured that the minimum wage is more than a poverty wage,

which the tax payer subsidizes to the tune of 10 billion euros

every year via unemployment benefits.

- Just park for a second by the office. - A stopover...

Yes, exactly. You can take a seat here.

You have an interview marathon today.

It's like that at the moment. It always is in Berlin,

because when I'm traveling the country I can't make many of these appointments.

So we squeezed them all into these few days.

We'll start with a very unpolitical question.

Puree or mash? How do you make your potato soup?

One second.

Okay. Let's go over there.

- Have a picnic? - Yeah, I'm not sure what I should do.

The whole set-up is stupid. I seriously wouldn't do it.

Yeah, they want... I mean what's that gold thing?

Yeah, the whole thing's crap.

She's not with us. We're going up in a minute.

And anyway, time-wise... Look at the time.

- I think it's... - What were they thinking?

I mean, I have some slight concerns...

- Must it really be staged like this? - It would be nice.

Quite honestly, I find it a bit... I'll be quite honest. It's a bit, a bit...

Contrived.

Sitting on a blanket, reading Goethe... I'm really not sure.

Well, it's an entertainment format for the magazine "Bunte".

I know it can't be too far from political events,

but we have to be visually different than existing photos, because...

- The ones you just took were lovely. - I think so, too.

But as I said...

There isn't even any red wine.

Yeah, we should have thought of that, huh?