Haslauer’s new role: State governor gives relationship tips to negotiators

After Wilfried Haslauer had to share the attention with Karoline Edtstadler and Stefan Schnöll the day before, he had it almost entirely to himself on Friday. It was one of the last highlights before he retired from politics. He took over the chairmanship of the Conference of State Governors from his Upper Austrian counterpart and party friend Thomas Stelzer.

In his speech, Haslauer also discussed the eventful political days of the past week. He currently sees a “testing moment for democracy” and defended his party’s numerous twists and turns in recent days. Not only is his ÖVP now negotiating with the FPÖ at the federal level. Edtstadler now also succeeds the state governor in Salzburg instead of Schnöll.

Edtstadler mentions the first priorities for the country
Haslauer gave the negotiators relationship tips and said you don’t have to see something bad every time. “You can also see this as the beginning of an honest attempt to jump over your own shadow,” Haslauer said.

He appealed for finding a common path in the interest of the country: “This applies to the federal and state government.” This sentence was probably also addressed to his deputy Marlene Svazek. Ultimately, coalition partner FPÖ must first approve its succession plan with Karoline Edtstadler in the state parliament. Haslauer did not mention his transfer of office in July in his speech.

In the meantime, her successor Karoline Edtstadler is already preparing to take over the party and power. She will be chairman of the ÖVP from February. Over the past week, she has already formed an initial idea of ​​her priorities and defined three points that are important to her.

Safety comes first, not only in the sense of the aid organizations, but also social security, health care and nursing care. “That must be preserved,” says Edtstadler. Another focus should be on Salzburg as a business location. She shares the desire for faster approval procedures with her coalition partner FPÖ. Your third focus is culture. “Salzburg has always covered the spectrum from folk culture to high culture,” says Edtstadler.