At the end of February, he will take over the National Council mandate from Julia Seidl, who announced her withdrawal on Friday because she wants to concentrate on the Innsbruck municipal council election, where she will run as the pink top candidate. The party announced this in the evening. Schellhorn was a member of the NEOS National Council until 2021, and a return to politics had been on the cards for some time.
“After the political developments as an entrepreneur and as a political person, I simply mightn’t hold on any longer. It needs to be cleaned up,” Schellhorn explained his return to the federal political stage to the Salzburger Nachrichten. When Seidl announced her withdrawal, “I had to quickly say yes or no,” said Schellhorn. And: “Of course you say: What does the little opposition politician want? But if you can help shape the opportunity, then I want to take advantage of this opportunity.”
The old and new NEOS politician told the newspaper that they were primarily frustrated with the Chancellor’s party’s economic and tax policy. “It’s a clear message for those companies that are fed up with the ÖVP,” he said. Most recently, the Signa bankruptcy and the events surrounding the Benko empire prompted Schellhorn to return quickly.
With Sepp Schellhorn, the NEOS are bringing a man back to Vienna – probably also with a view to the super election year of 2024 – who is known far beyond the Salzburg state borders, where he runs several restaurants. These were also the reason why he left federal politics in 2021 following seven years. The then NEOS spokesman for business and industry, tourism, energy and culture explained the reason for his withdrawal at the time: he wanted to devote himself fully to his businesses.
The cooperation between the entrepreneur and the party has already intensified in the last few months. Among other things, he contributed to party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinge’s business platform “Aufschwung Austria” in the location index and the “medium-sized business get-togethers”. “Sepp stands for the concerns of medium-sized companies and their employees like no other,” commented this Friday evening on his return. The aim now is to “finally honestly and noticeably relieve the burden on those who secure jobs and prosperity and to give entrepreneurs the freedom they need instead of truncating them with bureaucracy.” Schellhorn will make his first appearance before his return to the National Council: together with Secretary General Douglas Hoyos, he will be inviting people to such a “medium-sized business get-together” in Carinthia on January 11th.
The Salzburg state spokeswoman for NEOS, Lisa Aldali, was also pleased regarding the return of the Salzburg innkeeper: “It is an enormous benefit for us that Sepp is returning to the National Council. Together with him we can once once more advocate for the highest political level the interests of the people of Salzburg.” Schellhorn himself was chairman of the state party and deputy federal chairman of NEOS from 2018 to 2021.
Seidl wants to concentrate on Innsbruck
In a broadcast, Meinl-Reisinger also thanked Julia Seidl, who became a member of the National Council in August 2021 – at that time she took over the mandate from Sepp Schellhorn. “NEOS don’t do things by halves,” said the party leader, welcoming Seidl’s decision to concentrate on local politics. “I want to go all-in on the local council election,” said Seidl at a press conference on Friday.
She wanted to “focus 100 percent on Innsbruck and the local council elections,” said the 42-year-old, explaining her move at the press conference, which was titled “Personal Statement.” For her, Innsbruck is “not a consolation prize,” but rather her home, for which she wants to see “better political solutions” in the future: “I want something to move forward here.”
She also believes that a mandate in the National Council and her role as mayoral candidate in the state capital “are not compatible and are not credible,” said Seidl. Such a dual role is also diametrically opposed to the NEOS core values: “NEOS stands for honest, transparent politics.”
She also has “above all a job”: “I want the NEOS in Innsbruck to be stronger following the election than before.” This is also necessary because “there have been too many arguments in the local council in recent years” and the “variety of ideas” has not been managed well. Regardless of the outcome of the local council election, she wants to “stay in Innsbruck” and under no circumstances return to parliament.
Seidl previously served as her party’s tourism and culture spokeswoman. Seidl has been a member of the local council since the election in 2018. The Pinks are represented in the city parliament by two representatives. In the 2018 local council election they got 4.73 percent.
