The Big Interview – What’s happening behind the scenes, Mr. Karas?

On Thursday morning the news came that ÖVP veteran Othmar Karas would make “a personal statement”. When politicians announce something like this, it is often a dismissal. For Karas it was a reckoning with his party’s shift to the right. He announced promptly at 11 a.m. that he would therefore no longer stand as a candidate for the ÖVP in the 2024 European elections – putting him ahead of the People’s Party, which would also likely not have sent the uneasy people into the race.

The next day we sit on the terrace of his whitewashed house in Vienna’s 19th district. A small table is set with Augarten porcelain and silver cutlery, and a glass vase holds red, pink and salmon-colored fragrant roses that his wife Christa has just picked. Church bells ring a few streets away. As always, Karas wears a dark suit and the Austrian-European emblem on his lapel. His gaze is friendly and focused and sometimes wanders down the stairs to the rose garden, where receptions are always held for foreign and domestic, active and former politicians – from Roberta Metsola, Ban Ki-moon, Kristalina Georgiewa and Martin Schulz to Wolfgang. , Hannes Androsch, Christian Kern and Brigitte Bierlein.

“Kron”: It’s only been 27 hours since your personal statement. How do you personally feel the day after?
Othmar Karas: Good. Because every decision you make leads to relief. After 25 years in the European Parliament, I have not taken this decision lightly. I had to come to terms with myself and gain clarity before discussing it with my key advisors and my most important people in life, namely my wife and my son.