On Thursday, the Federal President went to Salzburg. With the “Krone” he spoke about hatred, crisis, the work of the government and his opponent Marco Pogo.
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen was in Salzburg for the second time in two weeks. While collecting statements of support on the Schranne in the morning, Salzburg AG boss Leonhard Schitter later presented him with hard facts about the energy crisis. In between, he visited the editorial office of “Krone”, where he answered questions.
“crown”: At a festival performance two weeks ago, protesters brought a gallows with a dedication to politics. What triggered that in you?
Alexander Van der Bellen: It caused a mixture of bewilderment and horror. When you wear a gallows like that, you want to hang someone. This is a violation that is not allowed. And I don’t think we should just accept that.
You get a lot of hate. What does that do to you?
There you have to protect yourself. Even if only by not reading it. But I don’t think I’m one of the most hated people because of the pandemic, which affects the health minister or a governor more. People have definitely gone too far there. You are not going to stand in front of a politician’s house and harass the family – the wife and children. So I’m relatively privileged.
Do you think the government is as bad as we are?
(laughs) No, that’s not my job. The Federal President is a little further away. I try to understand what the main problem areas are and what is planned. But I can remember thinking to myself a few times, “These are good ideas, why don’t you sell them better?” Part of it has to do with communication. For example, there is a package of measures of EUR 28 billion to absorb inflation, from which people benefit. But it is difficult to understand what will come into effect and where and what applications should be submitted. They should have sold it otherwise. So that people can also see and understand that something is happening.
How well prepared are we for the fall, including the pandemic, the energy crisis and inflation?
Basically okay. We’ll get over it, we’ll come up with something. I try to describe the situation realistically, but not to cause panic or to take away people’s trust. It’s going to be hard, let’s face it. But we will deal with it and must not lose heart.
Are you going to have a beer with Marco Pogo? What would you talk about?
Of course I would have a beer with Marco Pogo. I appreciate him as a musician, he has ideas and is funny. I just didn’t understand why he wants to be Federal President, because that has nothing to do with it. He studied medicine. I would like to ask him when he decided not to practice this profession but the other. After all, he had two avenues in life open to him. This is of course always a very personal decision. At that point it was curiosity for me.
Source: Krone
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