Germany’s left-leaning Die Linke (“the Left”) party has given the second spot on its European Parliament electoral list to Carlota Rackete, a migrant activist and the captain of Sea-Watch 3, a vessel operated by the Sea-Watch organisation based in Berlin.
Die Linke had five MEPs in the 2019 elections but has slipped in the latests polls.
A party conference will take place to approve the final list later this year.
Since 2015, the German-flagged Sea-Watch 3 cargo vessel has rescued migrants in the Mediterranean Sea but it has faced legal difficulties in Italy and Germany. The Sea Watch organisation took over operating the ship in 2017 from the Doctors without Borders charity.
Rackete, who described herself as “Antifa” on social media, used her ship in 2019 to break through an Italian blockade at sea, an event that included a collision with a vessel from the Italian law enforcement agency. On board her vessel were 53 migrants, three of whom later faced serious criminal charges.
She also made headlines by calling for the climate movement “Fridays for Future” to transition from “symbolic protest” to “direct action”.
Leute, ich kandidiere für's Europaparlament! Damit habt ihr nicht gerechnet? Dann ratet erstmal mit wem… mit @dieLinke! Warum es mich als Bewegungs-Ökologin parteilos nach Brüssel zieht und weshalb wir die LINKE #GemeinsamNeu machen müssen, möchte ich hier erklären. pic.twitter.com/HUijQNioNL
— Carola Rackete (@CaroRackete) July 17, 2023
On Twitter, Rackete described her decision to move into politics saying “the streets need strong voices in parliament”, and “the far-right AfD [Alternative for Germany] must be stopped”.
Besides Rackete, the party also nominated social medicine expert Gerhard Trabert for the European Union elections.
Wir stellen unser Spitzenteam für Europa vor. Mit den Spitzenkandidat*innen @schirdewan und @CaroRackete sowie @OezlemADemirel und @trabertwaehlen auf den Plätzen drei und vier zeigen wir: Die LINKE ist die Adresse für alle, die eine gerechtere EU wollen, die sich wünschen, dass… pic.twitter.com/kATfIZY3be
— Die Linke (@dieLinke) July 17, 2023
Party chairwoman Janine Wissler called the latest candidates “two well-known and highly committed non-party members”, at a press conference on July 17 at Die Linke’s headquarters Karl Liebknecht House in Berlin.
