In 2020, Walter Rosenkranz explained in the NÖN interview that he would like to work as a lawyer again after his time as an ombudsman. Now the 59-year-old former state party chairman of the FPÖ Lower Austria is surprisingly drawn back into (high) politics: At the suggestion of federal party chairman Herbert Kickl, the Kremser is going into the race for the Hofburg for the FPÖ on October 9th and thus opposes the incumbent president Alexander Van der Bellen. When announcing his candidacy, Rosencrantz already gave an insight into the issues he wants to focus on in the election campaign. In addition to the expected focal points of corona and inflation, these are also the fight against drugs and the education system. NÖN asked what he would do differently as Federal President than the incumbent, how he wants to reconcile the election campaign with his current work and what he says about Van der Bellen’s support of Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner.
NÖN: Your candidacy came as a surprise to many. In 2020 you still said in the NÖN interview that you would like to work as a lawyer again after your time as an Ombudsman. Why did you decide to run for the FPÖ in the federal presidential election?
Walter Rosencrantz: At the time, it was not foreseeable that the FPÖ would nominate me for such an important task. That changed my life plans tremendously. My testimony also came against the background that people’s advocates are appointed for a limited period of time and do not carry out this task indefinitely.
In 2017, rosary after rosary followed in Krems city politics: Susanne moved into the municipal council instead of her husband Walter Rosenkranz.
Photo:
John Lechner
Your wife inherited her position in Krems city politics a long time ago. You are currently still the district party chairman of the FPÖ. Are you giving that up now to focus on federal politics?
Rosary: In any case, I will resign my position as district party chairman, which has been planned for a long time anyway. With David Fallböck, the FPÖ city councilor from Langenlois, we have already appointed an executive district party chairman who is now being set up and should then take over this task completely.
And what about your current job? They say you want to remain the Ombudsman. How is this task compatible with an election campaign?
Rosary: The Federal President will not resign during the election campaign, and the Federal Chancellor will continue to work during the election campaign – and I will also continue to work as an Ombudsman. I will, of course, strictly separate this from the election campaign. Thanks to the electronic file, I can work through my things from anywhere. There will continue to be public prosecutor office days. I’ll be very careful not to mix things up here.
The motto of your presentation was “Let’s get our Austria back”. What do you mean by that?
Rosary: In recent years we have had to accept the gradual dismantling of many things that were so important and self-evident, through the fault of the government. There is an Austria before the pandemic. It is this Austria that we knew from before, when real statesmen still ruled, that I want to bring back.
What do you think incumbent Alexander Van der Bellen did wrong?
Rosary: Van der Bellen was not the independent president he claimed to be. He pushed through his exclusive political agenda and said nothing on crucial issues where a strong Federal President would have been needed. When it came to issues such as neutrality, sanctions or inflation – simply about everything that moves people, there was not a peep from the Hofburg. In that sense, he did almost everything wrong.
Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, with whom you were both in state and federal politics, has now indirectly announced her support for Van der Bellen. The state FPÖ finds this “terrifying”. How do you rate it?
Rosary: A state governor also has democratic rights, and her voting decisions are free. However, Mikl-Leitner is herself the chairperson of one of the strongest state parties within the ÖVP, which itself did not put forward a candidate for the federal presidential election, which I am quite surprised at for a state-supporting party. However, the Federal ÖVP has also issued the motto not to make any election recommendations. If Mikl-Leitner does this anyway, then, strictly speaking, she is violating her own party line.