The swearing-in of the 183 representatives marked the start of the opening meeting of the National Council on Thursday afternoon. What is striking is the new seating arrangement in the first row, which consists of 16 (instead of the previous 17) seats. There is a wider divide between NEOS boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger and Green Party leader Werner Kogler. The pink boss explained the ‘divorce’ in her speech, which caused a lot of laughter.
Last week there was already an argument about the new seating arrangement in parliament. NEOS and the Greens announced that they no longer wanted to sit next to each other in the front row. Previously there were 17 seats in the front row. The ÖVP occupied seven, the SPÖ four, the FPÖ three, the Greens two and the NEOS one.
The distribution now looks like this: 5 FPÖ, 5 ÖVP, 4 SPÖ, 1 Green and 1 NEOS – and instead of 17th place there is a larger gap between Meinl-Reisinger and Kogler, making a clear separation visible .
“The idea here is always that the factions are as separate as possible. That is the reason, and not because Werner Kogler and I were somehow bad students, that we are sitting here alone in the front row,” Meinl-Reisinger explained in her speech.
She then spoke directly to Kogler from the lectern: ‘But it’s really nice, Werner. We can do that on our individual fields there!”
Green flower pot for pink boss
Kogler then got up from his chair, picked up his small green flower pot (which, by the way, all the green representatives had with them) and placed it on Meinl-Reisinger’s chair. Probably a sign that they both get along well. The MPs acknowledged this with a deep sigh and applause.
FPÖ in the National Council is now far right
During the last presidential meeting, chaired by Wolfgang Sobotka, all factions – except the Freedom Party – spoke out in favor of the new arrangement of seats. The FPÖ, which had acquired numerous mandates, initially did not want to change places with the ÖVP and moved from the lectern to the far right.
But she had to accept this reluctantly. Everything remains the same at the other clubs. The SPÖ is on the far left, next to it the Greens and the NEOS.
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.
