Doris Bures, second chairwoman of the National Council and powerful Liesinger SPÖ politician, destroys Andreas Babler’s election program that was just presented there in a letter to the members of the SPÖ presidium. She fears the suspicion of “unseriousness”.
Five weeks before the elections and three days before his first ORF summer interview, Andreas Babler is under enormous pressure. After the tug-of-war over the resignation of convicted liar Klaus Luger, who as mayor of Linz came up against the appointment of a friend as head of the Brucknerhaus, Babler received the following bad news on Friday afternoon. Or rather: a letter addressed to all members of the SPÖ executive committee, sent by none other than Doris Bures. The second chairwoman of the National Council is considered the most powerful woman in the SPÖ. She is a confidante of Vienna’s mayor Michael Ludwig and knows what such an inflammatory letter can do.
In the letter, Bures destroys Andreas Babler’s party program, which was presented to the executive committee on Thursday, with subtle but clear formulations. It starts innocently enough. “The current program represents a compendium of a great variety of demands that also sound good, but in my opinion have too little focus on the real-political implementation. I fear that this does not sufficiently support the credibility and serious creative demands of social democracy.”
And further: “The relationships between the individual policy areas show too little focus and prioritization, but are lost in loving details – in relatively unimportant areas. For example, savings in public administration are promised by reducing the size of cabinets and PR budgets, while at the same time the positions in financial administration are increased by ten percent.” Another almost humorous criticism of the content: “In the research topic, it is briefly and concisely announced that more money will be made available for basic research, while in the agricultural section it is announced that the share of organic beekeepers will be increased from the current three to ten percent.”
“Suspect it’s not serious”
More massively: “The focus on numerous tax increases and at the same time demanding numerous free state services could give rise to the suspicion that this is not serious, given the difficult financial situation in the republic caused by the ÖVP government.”
Their criticism during the presidium meeting on Thursday focused mainly on the process by which this election program came about: there was a lack of “fundamental democratic legitimacy”. Bures: “Unfortunately, it is not the first time that the SPÖ’s publicly presented demands are insinuated that they were decided on a broad democratic basis. I wanted to point out this undesirable development, because it weakens and makes us vulnerable both internally and externally.”
The internal match in the peak phase of the election campaign has officially started.
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.
