SPÖ leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner states that the FPÖ has “inhuman politics and hate speech”, the red club chairman in Lower Austria, Hannes Weninger, sees “no reputation” for the state in the agreement. For the Green state spokeswoman Helga Krismer, the “country is catapulted back into the past”. Meanwhile, SOS Mitmensch announced a protest rally. Criticism also came from the ranks of the ÖVP.
“Dangerous Threat”
“ÖVP and FPÖ find each other in Lower Austria at record speed. Kickl, Waldhäusl, farmer, the entire FPÖ stand for inhuman politics and hate speech,” said Rendi-Wagner via Twitter. The Liberals must not be “a partner for social democracy,” she emphasized. The SPÖ federal manager Christian Deutsch made a similar statement in a broadcast. For him, the alliance is a “huge step backwards for Lower Austria and a dangerous threat for all of Austria”.
“A political cooperation that begins with a yes cannot and will not end well,” criticized the designated SPÖ state party chairman Sven Hergovich and SPÖ state manager Wolfgang Zwander. “People in Lower Austria will pay a high price for this pact of dishonesty.” The result of this “Johanna-Mikl-Leitner-Herbert-Kickl pact of social indifference will be a policy that is dishonest, unbelievable and anti-social,” was criticized. The SPÖ will do everything to keep the damage to Lower Austria from this pact “as small as possible with strong and constructive opposition work,” announced Hergovich.
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Black-blue in Lower Austria: “Not a love marriage, but a viable bridge”
“Woodchopper Coalition”
“With Landbauer, Waldhäusl and Co., the ÖVP has found tame bedside rugs to maintain its absolutist claim to power,” said Weninger in a broadcast on the alliance, which he described as the “Kickl-Mikl Pact” and “wood chopper coalition”. The SPÖ, which up until last week had been negotiating an agreement with the ÖVP in vain for a long time, will now “seek point by point majorities for a social and democratic Lower Austria” in the state parliament.
The People’s Party and the Freedom Party are regarding a love of power, said Krismer. Under these circumstances, the Greens might not elect Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) as state governor, it was announced in a broadcast. “Anyone who comes up with the idea of entering into a pact with climate deniers, science deniers, art enemies and agitators has lost love for the country,” said Krismer regarding the chairwoman of the People’s Party of Lower Austria.
Criticism also came from Green Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler. Mikl-Leitner said that her coalition should bring society back together, Kogler said on Twitter: “She will have to explain for a long time how this is to succeed alongside those who denigrate earthquake victims, deny young people their Austrian homeland and glorify Nazi songbooks .”
Critical words also came from NEOS Secretary General Douglas Hoyos. He warned in a broadcast “of the imminent return of the right-wing populist and corrupt black-blue coalition in the federal government and following the state elections in Salzburg”. With the pact with the Landbauer-Waldhäusl-FPÖ, the People’s Party has shown that it will stop at nothing and cling to power by hook or by crook.
“A Journey into the Past”
The “Ibiza coalition is a journey into the past,” said NEOS spokeswoman Indra Collini in a broadcast. “It is not to be expected that the ÖVP and FPÖ will make meters on the issues of education, transparency and climate change in this legislative period. Our role as the opposition will be all the more important not to let up on these issues.” Collini also explained: “A state governor who is only elected by her own MPs cannot build a sustainable basis for the next five years.”
criticism from within their own ranks
Criticism also came from the ranks of the People’s Party: “As a Lower Austrian, I regret that an agreement has been reached with the FPÖ. Landbauer and Waldhäusl trump each other with ideas that are incompatible with the ÖVP’s view of man,” said Othmar Karas, First Vice President of the European Parliament, via Twitter. “But I can’t release the SPÖ from their joint responsibility either. Tactics must not be placed above the country,” said Karas, who spoke out in favor of an end to proportional representation.
Before the constitutive session of the state parliament on March 23 at 10 a.m., SOS Mitmensch, together with other initiatives and committed people, is planning a protest action in front of the country house from 8 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. once morest the cooperation between the ÖVP and the FPÖ. “We do not watch in silence as ideological right-wing extremists and racists are endowed with far-reaching power,” the human rights organization said in a broadcast on Friday. “We see the rally as a reminder that it matters for a democracy who builds a bridge to power,” said Alexander Pollak, spokesman for SOS Mitmensch, in the direction of the Lower Austrian governor.
Global 2000 initially reacted critically because the topic of climate protection was almost completely missing from the presentation of the black-blue agreement. “Instead, there was a commitment to motorized private transport and a call to push ahead with further road construction projects,” said Johannes Wahlmüller, climate and energy spokesman for the environmental protection organization.
Artists see democracy in danger
As early as Wednesday, several Lower Austrian artists and the President of the Jewish Community in Vienna (IKG), Oskar Deutsch, openly spoke out once morest cooperation between the ÖVP and the FPÖ. According to media reports, the association “Welcome – to finding a new home” saw democracy in danger in an open letter on Thursday together with eight other organizations.
The federal FPÖ saw the agreement as “a fundamentally new course in Lower Austrian state politics”. The FPÖ has made Lower Austria a national and international pioneer on this issue with a Corona “reparation package”, it was emphasized. This must now be implemented in all other federal states. “In any case, we will not let up on this issue. The last step will be following the National Council elections at federal level,” announced FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl.
