On the day of the lieutenant, the trained officers are retired. This year there are 98 men and three women. The appointment in Wr. Neustadt perceived Van der Bellen as Federal President, so it was not an official campaign date and Van der Bellen did not make the Hofburg election an issue at the ceremony.
In an interview following the event, Van der Bellen said regarding the possible outcome of the election: “For me personally, nothing is more unpleasant than the story of the ‘gmahden Wiesen’ – that would be nice, but a ‘gmahde Wiesen’ is only mowed when people go to the polls and vote. Otherwise anything can happen with seven candidates.”
“Reliable, calm, crisis-proof”
At the same time managing the official business of a Federal President and being a candidate, Van der Bellen described it as “a good time with so many encounters with citizens, so much encouragement that I experienced.” When asked what the main reason for electing him was, he answered : “People know me, I’m reliable, calm, crisis-proof and I intend to continue to serve our country.”
The topic of the event was – in addition to the new military situation due to the Ukraine war – the recently presented budget increase for the federal army. Next year there will be an additional 680 million euros, by 2026 the army budget is to increase to 4.7 billion euros. As Federal President, Alexander Van der Bellen is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Army. For years he has been demanding more money for the armed forces. In his speech on Saturday, he welcomed the budget increase because “steps in the right direction would now be taken.”
Money for long-delayed investments
Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) spoke of wanting to set investment priorities with the additional funds: “At this point, all taxpayers can be assured that we will not buy anything that we do not absolutely need.” Chief of Staff Rudolf described it as a “turning point and milestone”. Striedinger the budget increase.
Striedinger hopes that the army will not only receive more money over the next four years, but that there should be “a legal basis that will ensure the long-term further development and reconstruction of the army for the purpose of military national defense.”
