After leaving the BSW: New party founded in Thuringia

The “Thüringen.Gerecht” party was founded in Erfurt this Sunday. The founding members elected the Thuringian Finance Minister Katja Wolf as chairwoman. The deputy chairmen are Digital Ministers Steffen Schütz and Steffi Eschrich.

"We promised to ensure stability and reliability in Thuringia. Now we invite everyone to put this promise into practice together with us," said Wolf when announcing the founding of the party. The founding board will now organize a broad membership intake as quickly as possible and then convene a party conference, said Wolf.

Last week, several members, including Wolf, resigned from the BSW in Thuringia - and some from the parliamentary group in the Erfurt state parliament - after a dispute with the party's federal leadership over participation in government in the Free State escalated.

The new party adopted its founding program under the heading “We will make Thuringia fair”. The focus is on “a politics that listens, recognizes people’s life’s work and ensures security, respect and new confidence”.

The party named the key points as: respect for the courageous life's work of East Germans, strengthening the economy for sustainable growth and employment, strengthening social cohesion, an intact environment and affordable energy, Thuringia as a peaceful country as well as democracy and participation.

“We founded this party out of a sense of justice and responsibility,” said Wolf. “We want to give Thuringia a strong voice and lead our country into the future together with courage and confidence.”

Wolf's group had accused the federal party and its founder Sahra Wagenknecht of interference and a lack of distance from the AfD. Last Friday, Wolf and eight other BSW members, including the two other ministers, resigned from the party. However, they want to stick to the so-called blackberry coalition with the CDU and SPD under the leadership of Prime Minister Mario Voigt.