Gabi Zimmer, President of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left, on the German elections:

The Bundestag election shows how deep economic and social divisions are in Germany. The grand coalition paid for their policies with huge losses. After the election of Macron as the President of France, many already cheered that the advance of right-wing extremists in the EU had stopped, and the crisis over. They were proven wrong today. The German election is a last warning call for the urgently needed 180-degree social turn in Germany and the EU!
 
The members and campaigners of my party, DIE LINKE, have led a highly committed election campaign. Thus, DIE LINKE is most likely to improve its results on 2013. As the President of the GUE/NGL left-wing group in the EU Parliament, I congratulate my comrades for this good result! With the DIE LINKE group in the Bundestag, we have a strong voice in the fight to overcome the social divisions of Germany, and against xenophobia and national egotism in Europe.
 
German policy is of enormous importance to the EU. People across Europe have therefore supported DIE LINKE throughout the campaign. The EU needs a political u-turn for social cohesion and democracy, for a social reform of the Eurozone, and a public investment offensive. The new federal government must face its European responsibility and remedy the damage inflicted on the European idea by the previous Merkel governments. German austerity dictates, and forced privatisations of public property, must end.
 
The entry of the right-wing extremists into the Bundestag is a sad moment in the history of the Federal Republic. Many people have voted for the far-right party to protest against the paralysing inaction of the grand coalition. It is a primary task for DIE LINKE to win them back with a strong leftist opposition policy.