“I think it is impossible to work with this leadership party now,” said Lopatka on Sunday in the ORF “press hour”. This would also apply if FP leader Herbert Kickl took a step aside, because: “The FPÖ is Kickl.” For the Greens, Lopatka sees “a number of open questions” in the Schilling case.
In the past, he also worked with the FPÖ in the government at the federal level, but “the Kickl-FPÖ is completely different,” said Lopatka. He currently sees “no one in the liberal party leader’s environment who is seriously interested in ending this radicalization.” In the European Parliament, Lopatka once once more ruled out collaboration with the FPÖ and its allies in the far-right ID faction. However, the ÖVP candidate can very well imagine working with parties from the right-wing conservative EKR faction such as the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Lopatka did not want to commit to the fact that the EU Commission President and EPP top candidate Ursula von der Leyen should continue to carry out this office.
- Position on Commission President Ursula von der Leyen:
It is too early for that, because the heads of government will first have their say following the EU elections, and that is right. He learned from the experience of the last election, where the heads of government did not choose the top candidate of the victorious EPP, Manfred Weber, but instead chose another member of the party family, von der Leyen. “I have learned that the candidate who overcomes the hurdle will have my support,” said Lopatka.
- Position on the common European security policy:
Lopatka initially didn’t want to comment on the “serious allegations” once morest the Greens’ top candidate Lena Schilling, but then found words: It was up to the Greens to do what they always demanded, for example an ethics authority at EU level You can also do it yourself if you want to examine the character of the EU representatives. Lopatka cannot understand Schilling’s argument that the allegations have nothing to do with politics.
- Position on the allegations once morest Green Party candidate Schilling:
Schilling “meant that one thing is character, the other is politics. I see the opposite, for me character is a basic requirement for politicians,” said Lopatka. In his view, there are “a number of open questions” that have not yet been answered by the Greens.
- On Europe as a pioneer in climate policy:
Lopatka’s statements caused criticism from the FPÖ, which spoke of a “desperate all-round attack” by the ÖVP top candidate. Lopatka is trying to play the citizens for fools, “gloss over the catastrophic undesirable developments – keywords illegal immigration, keywords price increases, keywords destruction of wealth, etc. -” and “tackle the Freedom Party,” said FPÖ top candidate Harald Vilimsky, according to the broadcast. SPÖ
- On asylum and migration policy in the EU:
Candidate Andreas Schieder, on the other hand, described “Lopatka’s attempts to distance himself from the far right” as “completely unbelievable”. The ÖVP is leaving the back door open “and is once once more looking to the right when it comes to maintaining its own power,” said Schieder.
- Economy vs. Green Deal:
The NEOS accused the ÖVP of having “left the European course long ago”. Contrary to its European program, the People’s Party has rejected the idea of a defense union with a European army and is blocking a comprehensive EU asylum and migration pact as well as the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria, criticized the pink EU leading candidate Helmut Brandstätter.
