The Lower Austrian FP leader and deputy governor Udo Landbauer is going into 2024 with great expectations. In the National Council elections in the fall at the latest, the FPÖ will have to “not just come first, but by as large a margin as possible. That means without us “Nothing works,” Landbauer was quoted as saying by the APA. He would like the Freedom Party, as the “party with the largest number of votes, to also take the lead in any government.”
The aim is to make party chairman Herbert Kickl Federal Chancellor in order to “make sensible policies in the interests of the Austrians”. When asked whether he himself was leaning towards the federal government, the deputy of state governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (VP) kept a low profile. He doesn’t want to take part in speculation regarding himself, “because I don’t even know what might happen to me on January 1, 2024. That means, let’s see.”
In Lower Austria, the alliance between the ÖVP and FPÖ that was formed in March has so far “presented a very constructive picture”. You don’t want to argue, you want to solve problems. “And I think we managed to do it very well, which, by the way, many people wouldn’t have expected.”
A free hand is already evident, said Landbauer, referring to implemented measures such as the establishment of the Corona Fund, the abolition of the ORF state levy and the extremely controversial gender decree for the state service. Further projects will be announced at a government meeting in January.
For the state deputy, one way out of the general crisis of trust in politics would be “not to stubbornly persist in making decisions that are demonstrably wrong, as the federal government in particular has constantly done over the last five years.”
But he doesn’t feel much of people’s dissatisfaction with politics firsthand. “I don’t have the problem of being insulted or booed at regulars’ tables, quite the opposite,” said Landbauer.
