Linke on Europe

The Left wants to place the European Central Bank under the oversight of the European Parliament and expand its mandate to include full employment and sustainable development. In the platform's view, the ECB failed in recent crises because rate hikes did not stop inflation and slowed investment.

The ECB is the central bank for the euro. The Left wants the European Parliament to oversee it. The Parliament would elect the ECB's leaders. The ECB should also care about jobs. It should be allowed to give money directly to states.

The ECB's Governing Council, Executive Board and president would be elected by the European Parliament. Parliament would also debate and set the long-term goals of monetary policy. Besides stable prices, the bank would pursue full employment and environmentally responsible economic development. To that end, it would be allowed to finance states directly. The platform sees no inflation risk because the 2 percent target would remain.

The Left wants a more social EU and large-scale public investment, for which European deficit and debt rules would be changed. In the long run it seeks new EU treaties because, in its view, the current ones limit fundamental reform.

The EU has strict rules on debt. The Left wants to loosen these rules. Then countries can put more money into education, health and climate protection. The Left also wants new treaties for the EU. The EU should become more social.

In the party's view, the Stability and Growth Pact locks member states into neoliberal fiscal policy. The European Semester, the annual coordination of budget and economic policy, would in future promote investment and employment. The party wants to build on the minimum wage directive, expand Erasmus+ for apprentices and give social cohesion more weight. It rejects concentrating regional funds with the Commission; regions should decide on the programs themselves. EU enlargement would be tied to social, environmental and democratic standards.

The Left wants to give the European Parliament the right to propose legislation itself and to hand it the fundamental decisions. It also wants citizens' initiatives and referendums to be possible at EU level.

Today the EU Parliament cannot propose its own laws. The Left wants to change that. Parliament should decide the important matters. People in the EU should also be able to vote on issues themselves.

Major decisions would rest with Parliament rather than the Commission, the Council or the Eurogroup. The hurdles for European citizens' initiatives would be lowered. The Committee of the Regions would be brought into decision-making so that local perspectives carry more weight. Everyone would have equal rights in the EU state where they live.

The Left opposes further rearmament of the EU and the militarization of its external borders. The border agency Frontex would become a rescue mission, and the party rejects deals designed to keep refugees out.

The Left wants no further arms buildup in the EU. The EU's borders should not be secured by military means. Today Frontex guards the EU's borders. The Left wants Frontex to rescue people in distress instead.

The platform's guiding idea is a peace union instead of a sealed-off EU. The party rejects the obligation in the Lisbon Treaty for member states to improve their military capabilities. It likewise rejects agreements with other countries intended to keep refugees away.