Executive Committee Meeting, July 2-3, 2016

Dear Comrades, last weekend the newly elected Party Executive Committee (PEC) held a two-day meeting in Rostock hosted by the land association of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the midst of an election campaign.

Six points for an exit from the crisis: From austerity to a social and democratic Europe

The beginning of the discussion on current political issues was defined by the vote of Britain to leave the EU and its possible implications for the European Union. In a long and controversial debate on future European policies the PEC issued a six-point plan aimed at recovering from the crisis in the EU as well as promoting social and economic policy shifts in Europe. It assumes that European policies and the future of the EU will be on the agenda in weeks and months to come due to the rise of right-wing parties in Europe. It is therefore even more important for us to develop and refine our stance on these issues while keeping the Bundestag electoral campaign in mind. In addition, the party execute committee released a statement "Gegen die Kriegspolitik Erdogans - Verurteilung des brutalen Anschlages in Istanbul" ­- "Against Erdogan’s war policy - condemnation of the brutal attacks in Istanbul".

Election campaign in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Land chairperson Heidrun Bluhm and prime candidate Helmut Holter informed the PEC of the political situation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern before the elections on September 4 and discussed the election campaign as well as its upcoming "hot phase” for the land association. In autumn we want to win together again - in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in Berlin in the local elections in Lower Saxony. We strive to achieve even greater results in all 3 federal states as it will give an impulse for a breakthrough for the entire party a year before the general elections in the Bundestag.

The PEC supported the land association’s campaign with a football match on Saturday against a team of Volkstheater Rostock dedicated to the fight against child poverty with a slogan "Wir lassen kein Kind im Abseits stehen” - "No child left offside".

Political priorities of the party executive committee in the next two years

The preparation and conduct of election campaign in the Bundestag in 2017 will be the main task in the following months. The PEC also defined the main focus points in the next two years:

- Carry on the "Das muss drin sein" campaign. The PEC suggested that the campaign headquarters in the near future concentrate on slogans "Wohnung und Energie bezahlbar machen" ("Make accommodation and energy affordable") and "Mehr Personal in Gesundheit, Bildung und Pflege” ("More personnel in hospitals, schools and medical institutions”).

• Active interaction with the population, canvassing;
• Pilot projects in socially deprived areas;
• Party development through recruitment, active involvement and organizational work;
• Active campaigning among youths.

Action plan for the creation of the electoral programme

The development of our electoral programme for the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2017 will commence in a couple of weeks. The PEC has adopted a timetable for the creation of the programme. The first draft is to be presented to the public in January 2017. Five regional conferences are to be held in February in order to receive feedback and make amendments to the programme before releasing the second draft in the middle of April. The programme is to be adopted at a federal party convention on June 9-11.

More members of the Executive Board elected

Christine Buchholz, Anja Mayer, Luise Neuhaus-Wartenberg and Ali Al-Dailami were elected to the Executive Board.

Representatives of the PEC in the Federal Committee elected

Judith Benda, Johanna Scheringer-Wright, Claudia Sprengel, Ali Al-Dailami and Thies Gleiss were elected as representatives of the PEC in the Federal Committee. Ruth Firmenich, Anja Mayer, Marika Tändler-Walenta, Arne Brix, Andrej Hunko and I were elected as deputy representatives.

The PEC appointed comrade Margit Glasow as official in charge of inclusion among persons with disabilities as part of the Involvement concept and thanked her predecessor Maik Nothnagel.