2024-01-16 22:51:15
Reinhold Lopatka, who was put into the race as the top candidate for the People’s Party, is pursuing a “double electoral goal” in the upcoming EU Parliament elections in June. He hopes that following the election the European People’s Party (EPP) will be the strongest faction in the new EU Parliament and will also fight for first place for the ÖVP in Austria. It is important to keep as many mandates as possible, as Lopatka, when asked regarding surveys that currently only see the ÖVP in third place, said in the ZIB2 interview last night.
ÖVP-EU top candidate Lopatka for the EU elections
The newly elected top candidate of the ÖVP, Reinhold Lopatka, talks, among other things, regarding his election program for the upcoming EU elections.
Lopatka has no objection to the accusation that Austria has become a brake on the EU from being an engine. On the contrary, Austria is a pioneer, as Lopatka said with reference to the issue of asylum – keyword asylum procedures exclusively at the EU’s external borders. At the same time, Lopatka tried to distance himself from the FPÖ. They see Europe as an enemy, “I have an image of friends,” said the ÖVP top candidate, who also accuses the FPÖ, led by Herbert Kickl, of being “Putin’s extended arm.”
Reminded that he had once openly spoken out in favor of FPÖ presidential candidate Norbert Hofer, Lopatka defended his position at the time. The “Kickl-FPÖ” cannot be a coalition partner for the ÖVP, according to Lopatka, who said when asked: “The emphasis is on Kickl.” Meanwhile, Lopatka does not want to take part in the ongoing speculation regarding an early National Council election. “Every word I say on the subject prolongs the discussion into a rumor,” said Lopatka, who said he wanted to concentrate more on the EU elections.
This article accompanies the broadcast ZIB2, ORF2, January 16, 2024.
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