Wild accusations – “Crisis communication around Schilling went wrong”

An election campaign about character questions – strikingly reminiscent of 2017. At the time, SPÖ Chancellor Christian Kern was discredited in internal emails as politically inexperienced, erratic, vain and a “princess with a glass chin”. It cost Kern percentage points on election night.

Seven years later, EU green list leader Lena Schilling is facing a barrage of wild accusations. For a few weeks now, rumors have been circulating about a sensitive private matter, in which Schilling had spread the news about a former girlfriend that she had been beaten by her husband during her pregnancy and had suffered a miscarriage as a result. The conflict escalated to such an extent that Schilling signed a declaration of charges.

This information is published by “Standard”. The ‘Standaard’ spoke to 50 people from Schilling’s environment and investigated further character deviations. Schilling is said to have caused a lot of suffering with false rumors that she spread about journalists.

Crisis communication has failed
A few hours after the publication, the Greens tried to contain the storm during a press conference called at short notice. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler, club boss Sigrid Maurer and Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler form a wagon castle around Schilling. “However, the crisis communication was not successful,” concludes political scientist Kathrin Stainer-Hämmerle. Above all, Kogler’s comment that the accusations were just a “fart” is an absolute misstep for Stainer-Hämmerle.

“The Greens should take the matter more seriously. More explanation is needed to demonstrate credibility. This explanation was missing at the press conference.”

Schilling’s argument that as a “politician she is honest, but what she does in private is no one’s business” is also incorrect. “Personality is always in the foreground for politicians,” says Stainer-Hämmerle. The development is “bitter” for the Greens because Schilling, as the EU’s top candidate with a new style, was “lucky for the Greens,” says Stainer-Hämmerle. Now the question arises as to how resilient Schilling will be in the coming days.

Lawyer: Schilling was simply ‘concerned’
But why did the escalation around the allegations of violence happen? The ‘Krone’ asked lawyer Maria Windhager about this in April. “A young woman became concerned about another young woman and discussed this with a close family member. It was nothing anymore. The settlement was reached solely to record that Lena Schilling was never interested in publicly discussing the highly personal content.”