Push for new elections – NEOS: “ÖVP needs cold withdrawal from corruption”

NEOS has shown for ten years that “politics can also work well”, emphasized Meinl-Reisinger. Kindness and corruption are not tolerated, the confession of former Secretary-General of Finance Thomas Schmid, who heavily taxed ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), was the focus of her speech.

“Thomas Schmid has confessed – this is now the umpteenth season of House of Cards for Alpine Countries.” Wealthy people apparently have a direct line to the Treasury Department, party friends get positions, and a PR show for Kurz is funded with taxpayers’ money.

It is now the job of the criminal justice authorities to process Schmid’s confession, but morally one experiences “absolute bankruptcy”. Meinl-Reisinger lamented a loss of confidence, Kurz and Co. dragged the whole of politics and its institutions “with them into the abyss”. ÖVP leader Chancellor Karl Nehammer would have had a year to clean up and the government would have had plenty of time to reform.

Government needs ‘both hands free’
Meinl-Reisinger is convinced that “the ÖVP needs a cold withdrawal from corruption”. In the current crisis situation you have “both hands free”, but “the ÖVP has a shovel in one hand and a broom in the other and is constantly trying to sweep up broken pieces”.

The political responsibility has been clarified, Meinl-Reisinger again defended that the U-committee is not renewed by the NEOS. The Greens, who criticized it, played a bit of opposition in the U-Committee, “but settle into the government”, annoyed the NEOS boss. New elections are inevitable, she says.

Prosperity is at stake
The task now is to emerge stronger from the crisis. Democracy and prosperity in Europe are at stake as a result of Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Putin is also waging an “energy war against Europe”. However, the dependence on Russian gas is “not given by God”. You have to honestly say, “We’re getting poorer and less competitive.” The state can’t fix everything, but it can provide a “shock absorber.”

Tax money distributed by watering can
Meinl-Reisinger admitted that it was difficult for liberals, but in this situation also called for market interventions that caused prices to fall. You have to make yourself independent of Putin and fossil fuels. “Wind turbines on the mountains! Wind turbines in the ski areas!” asked the NEOS boss, given that there have been no large wind turbines in Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg so far.

The turquoise-green government is splitting money with the watering can, as Jörg Haider once did, because their poll numbers are so bad. Instead, for example, one should increase income and reduce indirect labor costs.

U-turn in migration
Regarding the migration crisis, Meinl-Reisinger admitted that, like many others, she had partially changed her attitude since 2015. You have to “show a defensive edge” when it comes to values ​​like freedom and pluralism, but also give a “promise of opportunity”. The fact that tents for asylum seekers are now also being set up in Vorarlberg, even though there are free asylum quarters, is “obvious mismanagement” by the federal government and explosive for cohesion.

The migration situation shows that the recipes of the “wonderwuzzis” have not worked, and Europe has still not found a common approach, she lamented. “We can’t afford open gates, no, we can’t do that now in these times of crisis,” Meinl-Reisinger drew attention. Immigration is necessary for the economy, but with clear rules and controls over who comes, she emphasized.

election until 2024
There were no elections on Saturday. Meinl-Reisinger was re-elected as party leader with 93 percent at the general meeting of NEOS in the Design Center Linz in June 2021. According to the party statutes, the next elections are scheduled for 2024.