Fuss about the National Bank

Kickl: “This is post haggling at its best!”

Herbert Kickl in the "Krone" Sunday interview

(Bild: Klemens Groh)

Herbert Kickl sharply criticizes the premature tendering of the entire Board of Directors of the Austrian National Bank in an interview for the Sunday "Krone". According to the FPÖ leader, this is "post haggling in its purest form".

As reported, the General Council of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) announced on Thursday that the posts for the Board of Directors would be advertised this Saturday and not at the end of the year. The turquoise-green government apparently wanted to decide on the personnel issues itself before the elections. Governor Robert Holzmann, who is in office until August 2025, confirmed this on Friday, but did not wish to comment on the matter.

The FPÖ leader is furious: instead of waiting until 2025, the government wants to award directorate posts before the elections.

(Bild: Klemens Groh)

"Government is still trying to quickly cement itself into the system"
In an interview with Conny Bischofberger, Kickl explains that the management structure of the National Bank has always been set up in such a way that the respective government has the right to participate. Now the two governing parties, "together with a stirrup-holder of the sham opposition, would quickly cement themselves into the system before they are threatened with a huge loss of power in the upcoming elections". But he was not surprised, because in 2017, a "certain Mr. Wolfgang Sobotka" had given all provincial police directors extensions a few months before the elections.

The main building of the OeNB on Otto-Wagner-Platz in Vienna

(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

Is this a coup by the government? Kickl's answer: "It's more of a boomerang that will hit it on the head." When asked about the current governor Robert Holzmann, Kickl did not want to comment on a possible new application. "That is his personal matter." Holzmann had done his job well and fulfilled the selection criteria at the time. Now they only meant that you had to be black, green or red.

OeNB Governor Robert Holzmann is in office until August 2025, and now the race for his successor has begun.

(Bild: Reinhard Holl, stock.adobe, Krone KREATIV)

Will the "turbo-European" succeed Othmar Karas? 
Regarding the rumor that the current first vice president of the European Parliament, Othmar Karas, could join the National Bank as governor, Kickl said that this "turbo-European" would certainly wave through everything that the gentlemen in the European Central Bank wanted (note: the head of the ECB is a woman).

The latest rumor: Othmar Karas, First Vice-President of the EU Parliament, is to succeed Robert Holzmann as OeNB Governor.

(Bild: APA/Eva Manhart)

According to a poll by the daily newspaper "Heute", Kickl leads with a 9 percent lead and is at 30 percent, followed by the ÖVP and SPÖ (21 percent each), the Greens and Neos with 8 percent. According to "Unique Research", a four-party coalition would be needed to bypass the FPÖ. This would leave Austria with a parliament of seven parties, with the Beer Party (7 percent) and the KPÖ (5 percent) also entering the National Council.