After 100 lost days, Herbert Kickl wants to quickly start coalition negotiations. However, he demands that the ÖVP change its political style.
One thing stood out at Kickl’s first appearance after being tasked to form a government at the Hofburg: the FPÖ does not trust the ÖVP (yet) one bit. Confidential discussions in small groups are intended to bring rapprochement – more than that: a basis – for the ‘coalition of a new type’, as Kickl calls it. His goal is to ‘govern Austria fairly’.
After a hundred lost days, we need “clarity quickly” about whether a coalition is possible, Kickl said at his press conference. This requires changes in the ÖVP and unity: “If that is not guaranteed, then so be it.” The FPÖ is prepared for new elections.
The first step towards coalition formation should be one-on-one talks between Kickl and the new ÖVP leader Christian Stocker. The first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. The blue party board gave the green light.
Kickl does not find it easy to talk to the ÖVP
Kickl emphasized that he was not looking to the past, but to the future. Resentments lead nowhere, even if he understands the skepticism of some warners towards the People’s Party: “At first I thought I wasn’t listening well,” the FPÖ leader said about the ÖVP’s turn towards the Freedom Party.
It is also not easy for him that he is now talking to the People’s Party. At the same time, he demanded that the ÖVP recognize who had become the strongest party and who had finished in second place.
His speech was also peppered with one or two warnings. A mere verbal repositioning of the ÖVP is not enough for Kickl. “It also requires insight.” He now wants “no games, no tricks, no sabotage, no interference, no politics to maintain power,” Kickl said, outlining how he envisions the partnership.
The blue distrust towards the ÖVP has a very long history. Kickl blamed the People’s Party under Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel for the rift between the FPÖ and BZÖ in Knittelfeld in the early 2000s.
By 2019 at the latest, the FPÖ leader experienced the following disappointment: After the publication of the Ibiza video, ÖVP Chancellor Sebastian Kurz demanded that Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen dismiss the then Interior Minister Kickl from his office. That’s how it happened.
ÖVP shows a certain calmness
At the ÖVP, these warnings are viewed with a certain professional calm. It is clear that Kickl wants to show that he has the scepter in hand after the failure of the government negotiations. “By Kickl’s standards, the speech was quite conciliatory. And personal sensitivities play a subordinate role in government negotiations,” one hears from ÖVP circles.
Officially, no ÖVP major wanted to comment on Kickl’s statements. ÖVP state governor Markus Wallner said about his negative attitude towards Kickl: “Personal wishes are one thing, necessities are another.” The goal now is to prevent “state crisis-like circumstances.”
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.
