Criticism of handling – ‘Rendi-Wagner received too little support’

Her party never made things easy for Pamela Rendi-Wagner, but she could always count on Gabrielle Sprickler-Falschlunger for support. The disappointment of Vorarlberg’s SPÖ state leader was all the greater that Rendi-Wagner only came third in the membership poll for the federal party presidency – just behind Burgenland’s governor Hans-Peter Doskozil and career changer Andreas Babler. While the two gentlemen are still competing for the chairmanship of the board, Rendi-Wagner withdraws from politics.

‘Women’s affairs were in good hands with her’
It is a personal concern of Sprickler-Falschlunger to thank the outgoing chairman for her efforts: “She took over the party after the surprising departure of Christian Kern. She did it out of a sense of duty to take responsibility when needed. No one else was willing to do that at the time. I greatly appreciated her political commitment. Women’s affairs in particular were in good hands with her.” Rendi-Wagner’s efforts were not appreciated. Rendi-Wagner also made mistakes – “but everyone makes them and in that respect she is in the same ranks as us presidents of state.”

However, her party did not thank her for having Doctor Rendi-Wagner administer “first aid” when everyone else ducked. A circumstance that is particularly criticized by Sprickler-Falschlunger: “Unfortunately, Rendi-Wagner received far too little support from its own ranks. The Social Democratic family did not take action for years when they were abused and considered it insufficient that women are judged much more strictly than men. We women, including in the SPÖ, must learn from this. We must not allow ourselves to be overawed by men’s ‘strategies’ – they often enough lead to dead ends and only bring short-term success.”

‘Nine-man president after my resignation’
Rendi-Wagner was the first woman to lead Austrian social democracy. In retirement, the Reds are well on their way to becoming an all-male club. Sprickler-Falschlunger is currently the “last of the Mohicans”, but she too will soon – as has long been announced – retire from politics. “After my resignation, nine men will be represented in the party presidency as state chairpersons and one man as national chairperson. We SPÖ women should not tolerate that. It doesn’t matter who takes over the leadership of the party – the new chairman would do well to fill the future presidency with more women,” said Sprickler-Falschlunger, who still hopes that the SPÖ has learned lessons from the past months. .