Socialist class warriors divided over leaders’ posh hotel rooms

Former chairman of the party Oskar Lafontaine and current leader Klaus Ernst were booked into two four-star hotels during the Congress of European Left Parties in Paris last week, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

But the other 12 members of the delegation were put up in double rooms in a two-star hotel, creating resentment among the class warriors.

Adding insult to injury, although the delegates and Ernst stayed in hotels near the congress venue, Lafontaine was staying in a spa-hotel near the Louvre. Not only this, but originally it had been planned for a car to be sent from Berlin to Paris for him – but this was cancelled due to weather conditions.

Ernst was only invited as a guest, not as a delegate to the congress, but demanded a share of the limited speaking time assigned to the Germans.

Officially he and Lafontaine were present due to their positions as federal chairman and leader of the International Commission of the party respectively, the magazine reported, and thus responsible for maintaining contact with other parties of the European Left.

The Local/hc