The meeting of state governors in Traunsee in Upper Austria started with laughter on Wednesday: to lighten the mood before the LH conference, Viennese mayor Ludwig took out his iPhone. It shows: A satirical fragment in which Chancellor Nehammer, Lower Austrian regional leader Mikl-Leitner and US President Trump are dragged through the cocoa.
The clip has now been shared thousands of times on the internet: the satirical video published by the “Tagespresse” (seen below) shows Chancellor Karl Nehammer, speaking via artificial intelligence, while on the phone with US President Donald Trump. The fictional Nehammer congratulates Donald Trump on the election of the future American president. According to the fictional Nehammer, he is now the second most powerful politician in the world – after Lower Austrian governor Johanna Mikl Leitner (ÖVP).
The publication of the satire portal causes laughter – even among the powerful state leaders who met on Wednesday in Traunkirchen in Upper Austria at the invitation of Governor Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP). Shortly before the politicians and their officials withdrew to the banquet hall of the noble Waldcampus, the mayor of Vienna – formally he is also governor of the state – took out his mobile phone and played the satirical fragment.
Host Stelzer, who was standing next to him, and Carinthia’s regional leader Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) laughed out loud, and Ludwig himself also had a lot of fun when he showed the video. But that’s not all: when the Lower Austrian regional leader Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP) from Salzburg and Anton Mattle (ÖVP) from Tyrol, who had been deceived by the satirists, also arrived at the conference location, Ludwig seized in his pocket again, the video showed again. Here too: lots of laughter. Politics can be funny too, but some clarification is probably in order in these serious times.
State leaders formulate demands for the coalition negotiators
However, the meeting of country heads is accompanied by serious topics. KTM announced its bankruptcy the day before. And one terrible news after another comes from the economy.
State governors are expected to submit a package of demands to a new federal government. It was clear in advance: the issue of electricity costs would be a flammable issue. Carinthia, Burgenland and Lower Austria are in favor of uniform national electricity grid tariffs, which Western Austria, and especially Vorarlberg, rejects.
Stelzer also saw the need for an upfront discussion after the much worse revenue share forecast for 2025 was only communicated to the states at the end of the budget preparation process: “Communication between the federal and state governments needs to be improved.”
Two prominent seats remained empty at the conference
By the way: the group at their meeting in Traunkirchen is not complete: the Burgenland state leader Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) and the Styrian Christopher Drexler (ÖVP) have apologized. The SPÖ politician is still suffering from pneumonia and his colleague from Styria lost the state elections on Sunday. Today the first talks will take place in Graz with election winner Mario Kunasek (FPÖ).
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.
