Two and a half weeks after the National Council election, talks between the party leaders of the FPÖ, ÖVP and SPÖ, commissioned by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, began. Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) started on Tuesday. The two did not reveal where the meeting took place. Nehammer did not address the content at a hastily called press conference after the conversation ended. He didn’t leave his interlocutor in good stead.
Once again, the ÖVP party leader emphasized that nothing had changed in his attitude towards Herbert Kickl even after the election. “As Chancellor, I will no more act as Herbert Kickl’s stirrup holder than as federal party chairman.” It’s “not a question of sympathy between the two of us, it’s not a question of whether one likes the other.” It’s about the question of “political action”, and Kickl has often proven in the past “that he is not prepared to take responsibility,” said Nehammer, and brought his appearance during the Covid-19 pandemic into the meeting.
Video: Nehammer’s verbal all-round punch in full length
“It creates fear”
In addition, Kickl’s actions have repeatedly gone against the interests of Austrians. “With his affection for horses and investments in this area”. In addition, the FPÖ leader has opened the door for Russian interests and is spreading conspiracy theories, for example regarding the WHO. The last current evidence that Kickl is against security in Austria is his claim that the Skyshield defense system endangers neutrality. “It creates fear.”
When asked about this, Nehammer once again emphasized that he differentiates between Kickl and his party; the categorical no only applies to the blue party chairman. Kickl claims to be chancellor and wants to form a coalition with the ÖVP, but the People’s Party does not want to join him. Nehammer is missing out in the current discussion, “the fact that 72 percent did not vote for the FPÖ.”
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In the run-up to today’s meeting, neither the ÖVP nor the FPÖ wanted to announce where the meeting would take place. Information from several media representatives that the two could meet in parliament turned out to be false. Shortly before 2 p.m., Kickl was seen getting into a car in front of the FPÖ club premises on Reichsratsstrasse. The FPÖ only told the journalists who were waiting in vain that the meeting was taking place “in Vienna” and would last “as long as it takes”.
The next meeting tomorrow is likely to follow a similar principle, then Nehammer and SPÖ leader Andreas Babler will explore the possibilities of cooperation. The most likely coalition variant besides black-blue is currently the “sweetheart” coalition – which Kickl calls the “losers’ coalition” – consisting of ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS, but the black-red overhang of just one mandate requires a third partner in terms of real politics. There will also be discussions in this direction in the coming days: NEOS boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger will meet the Chancellor on Wednesday, and the SPÖ boss on Thursday, a spokesman confirmed a corresponding article in the APA’s “Presse”. There will also be “no communication” about these discussions.