ÖVP General Secretary Laura Sachslehner rejects early National Council elections. In an interview with the APA, however, she already warns of a possible traffic light coalition of SPÖ, Greens and NEOS following the regular election in a good two years.
The General Secretary is very skeptical regarding a possible coalition between the ÖVP and the FPÖ under Herbert Kickl. Under Kickl, the FPÖ “developed in a very difficult direction” and the FPÖ is currently “not in a position to be a government partner,” said Sachslehner, who at the same time emphasized that two years before an election, she did not exclude any party and none wanted to make coalition announcements.
CO2 tax: “No longer burden people”
The ÖVP General Secretary does not a priori reject the call for a further postponement of the CO2 pricing, which had already been moved from July to October, in view of the rapid rise in prices. The top premise is that you want to “relieve people and not burden them further in any way”. Under this aspect, all measures would have to be examined carefully, emphasizes Sachslehner.
The ÖVP general secretary does not believe in calls to the population to save electricity and gas, as has already been done in Germany. Reject scaremongering. The gas storage tanks might be filled bit by bit, even if this was not done to the desired extent in the end.
The now planned capping of the electricity bill as proposed by WIFO boss Gabriel Felbermayr might be a sensible measure if the concept is mature and well thought out. And: If additional measures are necessary, they will also be taken.
Pandemic: Wiener Weg sometimes “disproportionate”
In terms of the pandemic, Sachslehner supports the Ministry of Health’s considerations to abolish the quarantine regulations, despite the fact that the number of infections is increasing once more. She points out that the virus has changed. There are much milder courses of the disease and fewer hospitalizations. You have to find a way to lead as normal an everyday life as possible despite the virus.
It therefore makes sense to think regarding ending the quarantine regulations. The fact that the red-led Vienna has strict corona virus rules is “difficult to understand here or there” for the ÖVP General Secretary. Vienna’s special path is sometimes “a bit disproportionate” and Sachslehner also doesn’t believe that the federal capital has come through the crisis better than other federal states.
