The BSW group is a

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

in the 20th German Bundestag. BSW stands for Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, Sahra Wagenknecht being the party founder and leader. All ten members of the group were previously in the Die Linke fraction, which was dissolved in December 2023. The BSW group was recognized as a group on 2 February 2024. Following the

2025 German federal election The 2025 German federal election was held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the List of members of the 21st Bundestag, 21st Bundestag, down from 736 in 2021 due to reforms in seat distribution. The 2025 election took plac ...

, the BSW would fail to reach 5% and thus lose all seats.

The BSW group in the 20th German Bundestag

The group currently has ten members, including the former parliamentary group leader of the Left Party in the Bundestag

Amira Mohamed Ali Amira Mohamed Ali (; born 16 January 1980) is a German politician who served as a member of the Bundestag from 2017 to 2025. From 12 November 2019 till October 2023, she was the parliamentary co-chairperson of The Left (Germany), The Left alongsi ...

, the former

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a politica ...

of the Left Party

Klaus Ernst Klaus Ernst (born 1 November 1954) is a German politician and was a leading member of the Labour and Social Justice Party, later The Left and switched to BSW in October 2023. He is political economist has served as a member of The Left in ...

and the former deputy party leader and penultimate

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

leader of the Left Party Sahra Wagenknecht: With regard to parliamentary work, the BSW group was responsible for no legislative initiatives, no major interpellations, 32 minor interpellations, ten independent motions and three motions for resolutions in the 20th legislative term (as of July 2024).

Background

Founding

After a long dispute over direction within the Left Party, Sahra Wagenknecht, together with nine other members of the Bundestag, left the Left Party on October 23, 2023, but remained in the Left faction for the time being. On November 14, 2023, the dissolution of the Left parliamentary group in the Bundestag was decided for December 6, 2023. On December 6, 2023, the parliamentary group was dissolved. On February 2, 2024, the BSW and Left groups were recognized.

Absence from the speech of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The BSW members stayed away from the speech by Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

in the German Bundestag in June 2024. In a statement by the BSW group, the reason given was that President is currently helping to "promote a highly dangerous spiral of escalation" and is "accepting the risk of a nuclear conflict with devastating consequences for the whole of Europe." Everything must be done to ensure that the conflict does not escalate "into a major European war" and that Germany does not become a party to the war. Zelensky "should not be honoured with a special event in the German Bundestag".{{Cite web , date=2024-06-11 , title=Germany's Russia-friendly parties skip Zelenskyy speech , url=https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-russia-friendly-parties-afd-bsw-skip-zelenskyy-ukraine-speech/ , access-date=2024-11-21 , website=Politico Chancellor

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

and opposition leader

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (; ; born 11November 1955) is a German politician serving as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU ...

sharply criticized the BSW for its absence and viewed it as a lack of respect. Politicians from the Left also criticized the BSW for this.

References

Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht Organisation of the Bundestag Groups of the Bundestag 2024 establishments in Germany