2023-07-12 08:31:06
After Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (both ÖVP) is now also using the attitude to the “Sky Shield” missile protection shield as an argument to criticize FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. The Freedom Party leader and club chairman does not care regarding the protection of his own compatriots, the ÖVP minister stated on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Nehammer had ruled out a coalition involving Kickl and also cited his position on Russia.
In a broadcast, Tanner made a similar statement. “For a long time now, Herbert Kickl hasn’t surprised me much. Especially following his performance as Minister of the Interior, it’s not surprising that Kickl also wants to sacrifice Austria’s participation in SkyShield for cheap populism,” she explained: “It’s unbelievable for me how him the protection of one’s own compatriots can be irrelevant and he wants to hand us over voluntarily to enemy missiles or drones.”
Among the ÖVP government members, Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler recently spoke of a “red line” towards Kickl. Labor Minister Martin Kocher has ruled out participation in a government under the chancellorship of the current FPÖ leader, as has Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker also drove on the anti-kickl line on Tuesday. He described him as a wrong-way driver in terms of security policy and cited Kickl’s dealings with state security and his attitude towards Russian President Vladimir Putin as arguments.
Kickl, who is regularly dubbed the future “People’s Chancellor” by those around him, last Sunday criticized Austria’s accession to the European airspace defense system as a “devastating neutrality policy decision”. Austria is thus losing its position of strength as a potential mediator between Russia and Ukraine. Participation in the project also endangers the protection of Austria, which it has through its neutrality status, “to the highest degree”.
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