After “Kronen Zeitung” and “Austria” sent former chancellor Christian Kern back into the running for a top position in the SPÖ on Monday, the former party leader denied once more. “On the occasion: I am not running for party chairmanship,” he wrote on Twitter. The SPÖ has a “respectable selection”, which actually says everything.
He is the CEO of an international company and is not aiming for public office either: “It makes me happy and I intend to stay there.” The fact that he will also express his opinion publicly where he deems it necessary will remain so: “That is the responsibility and a privilege of a former Chancellor,” writes Kern.
In interviews with “Vienna Today” and “profil” in the past few days, the former chancellor had already made it clear that he would not be running as a candidate at the party congress and criticized the organization of the member survey. He also indirectly revealed slight preferences for Hans Peter Doskozil, for example in “profil”: “Bruno Kreisky has handed down the principle: We have to be left-wing in social policy, pragmatic in terms of economic policy and right-wing in terms of security policy. That was his recipe for success. The SPÖ must reanimate it. “
This sounded roughly like the program of the Burgenland governor. Doskozil, in turn, praises Kern in the “Presse”: “He is the best we have in the party in the area of economic and energy policy.” The governor left open whether he would be in his team: “Let yourself be surprised.”
All fueled speculation. Kern was traded in today’s newspapers as a possible top candidate or EU commissioner. There was also talk of a double peak. The former chancellor countered this with his tweets. Whether he will support one of the candidates remained open.
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