“Our hand remains outstretched,” he said in a press conference on Wednesday, presenting the documents presented at the previous day’s meeting that emphasize overlaps with the ÖVP. After the conversation commissioned by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, Nehammer once again ruled out government cooperation with the Blues under Kickl.
Kickl not only criticized the fact that a still “insulted” Nehammer was using the same “campaign rhetoric” as before the election. The text for the ÖVP leader’s statement immediately after the conversation had apparently been written beforehand, the FPÖ leader speculated. “You get the feeling that someone is trying to close the bag quickly,” Kickl speculated, adding that other coalition variants could already have been discussed.
According to Kickl, the meeting with Nehammer wasn’t completely in vain, “but in a certain way it was very enlightening.” In any case, personal sensitivities should not play a role in a government, emphasized the FPÖ leader, who simply wants professionalism in a government. But he also made an “attempt to bring about a certain relaxation on the relationship level”. But it is also a fact: “The FPÖ won, the ÖVP lost.”
Kickl emphasized overlaps in content
Nevertheless, there are many overlaps in content with the ÖVP, emphasized Kickl. This is exactly what Kickl presented to his counterpart on Tuesday: The FPÖ chairman wanted to convince the ÖVP that the joint government work up to the Ibiza scandal had been “good for Austria”. Both protagonists of the former turquoise-blue coalition, ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his blue deputy Heinz-Christian Strache, are now “gone”.
For exploratory talks, the FPÖ would also have liked a “joint assessment of the situation” and a cash collapse. They wanted to put the European economic area out of contention, according to the documents, which are intended to emphasize commonalities with the ÖVP. These include a balanced budget by the end of the next legislative period as well as “cost-cutting measures against immigration into the social system” and the evaluation of educational leave with regard to accuracy.
Other measures that can be found in the FPÖ paper include the rejection of new taxes, a “de-bureaucratization offensive” and a focus on the issue of affordable housing. “The measures do not represent a claim to completeness, but rather represent an offer for a quick agreement as an immediate impulse to secure Austria as a location,” it says at the end of the document that the Freedom Party wanted to present at the meeting with Nehammer on Tuesday.
“Our negotiating team is ready”
The FPÖ had also prepared a timetable for exploratory talks, which was also made public. This covers six thematic blocks, from economics to asylum to health. The start was scheduled for October 22nd and the end for November 14th. “Our negotiating team is ready to enter into these negotiations around the clock,” emphasized Kickl, despite the failed talks.
The FPÖ leader reported that he had also offered Nehammer a follow-up appointment for yesterday’s conversation, but: “He pushed that aside. He obviously didn’t want that.” Kickl speculated that the ÖVP boss was apparently afraid that there could be an agreement on the content. “Who isn’t ready for responsibility here? Who isn’t moving here? It’s Karl Nehammer, not me,” said Kickl. If no one moves, there will be no new government.
Kickl also had an alpinistic comparison in store. Even in mountaineering, communities of convenience would occasionally develop into camaraderie, sometimes even friendship. But if there is still no agreement with the FPÖ, Kickl made it clear: “We can also be in opposition.”
“Plain and transparent”
ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker rejected the idea. “FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl is desperately trying to become chancellor, but he acts snidely and transparently,” he wrote in a broadcast. The FPÖ leader himself made it unmistakably clear that there would only be government cooperation with the FPÖ with him as chancellor – “but that won’t happen with the People’s Party.” Kickl is “a source of division, not a bridge builder or candidate for chancellor,” said Stocker.
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