In the first major interview after his victory at the special party congress, the new SPÖ chairman Hans Peter Doskozil announced that he would be working with his challenger Andreas Babler.
According to Doskozil, there is a great desire for agreement in the party, and Babler’s involvement is part of this agreement. The mayor of Traiskirchner was only 6.2 percent behind the governor of Burgenland in the delegates’ vote. “He will certainly have an important role to play in future social democracy,” said the new SPÖ leader, “the movement he founded cannot and must not be denied.”
But that should also be tied to themes and not just to the person. As a sign of this agreement, he brought Babler on stage on Saturday. He cannot yet describe in detail what role that should be. When asked if Babler would be on his campaign team, lead a possible future committee or possibly become his deputy at the party congress in the spring, Doskozil replied that all three roles are conceivable in principle. However, he stressed that trust still needs to be built on both sides. Personnel and substantive decisions would not be made until Tuesday.
When asked about the strained relationship with Vienna’s mayor and Viennese SPÖ leader Michael Ludwig, Doskozi said he would like Ludwig to become an important comrade-in-arms. In the run-up to the membership survey and the subsequent election vote at the party congress, he had not made any election recommendations for the Vienna SPÖ. “Given everything that happened in the past, this was a first step. A step that was okay.” He will now try to find Ludwig.
Doskozil motivated this by saying that this Viennese mayor, head of the largest state organization and also president of the association of cities, has a different international focus than other state governors because Vienna is a cosmopolitan city. “With the social-democratic past of this city, Ludwig is unquestionably a very important personality in social-democracy.”
You can read the interview with Conny Bischofberger on Monday in “Krone”, the long version from Sunday evening 8.30 pm on Krone+.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
