There is still great frustration after Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen did not give the party with the highest number of votes the mandate to form a government after the National Council elections. “The last word has not yet been spoken,” FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl emphasized on Tuesday. In fact, he followed up a few days later, describing the Federal President as an “elephant in a foreign policy china shop.”
Kickl gratefully accepted a Facebook post from Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, in which he asked on behalf of the Hungarian government that Austrian leaders would ever again criticize the “state of Hungarian democracy” and also launch a violent attack on Facebook against Van der Bellen would set up. . “It was always particularly important to you how other countries viewed Austria. You once even put up a poster with the text ‘VDB – FOR AUSTRIA’S REPUTATION IN THE WORLD’. And today? Today you are acting like a bull in a foreign policy china shop.”
“Austria’s reputation has literally been ruined”
The blue frontman accused the red-white-red head of state of having “outright destroyed Austria’s reputation”. “A core task of the Federal President of the Republic of Austria is to strengthen and represent the reputation of our nation in Europe. Does VdB really take this core task seriously? Everyone should get their own idea of it…,” Kickl continued.
Addressing Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), Kickl said he was “too cowardly to start negotiations with the FPÖ.” That is why Nehammer prefers to rely on an “Austrian loser traffic light with the Marxist Babler-SPÖ”. For him, retaining his position is “more important than the content, the will of the voters and the well-being of our population.” A few hours earlier, Christian Hafenecker, Secretary General of the FPÖ, had made a similar argument, emphasizing: “A stable government that offers our people five good years can only exist with the FPÖ and Herbert Kickl at the top.”
Exploratory discussions between SPÖ and ÖVP
Meanwhile, the SPÖ and the ÖVP started their exploratory talks on Friday. During the approximately four and a half hour meeting, the problem areas and challenges that a future coalition should give the highest priority to were identified. Both Nehammer and SPÖ leader Andreas Babler were cautious afterwards, saying that a “long, rocky” road still lay ahead.
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.
