ÖVP pact with FPÖ?

SPÖ warns of black-blue “horror coalition”

Nehammer and Kickl have been building up fronts for months - after the election, all this could be forgotten again, warns the SPÖ.

(Bild: Harald Dostal, Uta Wiedergut, Krone KREATIV)

Depending on the election results in the fall, a new coalition between the People's Party and the Freedom Party cannot be ruled out. Although the ÖVP has been denying a possible engagement with FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl for months, the SPÖ is not willing to believe this - the party is now warning of a new "scare coalition". 

The SPÖ is using Easter as a time of hope and new beginnings to warn against such a pact between the ÖVP and FPÖ after the national elections. Such a government would stand for the "dismantling of democracy" and a "smashing of the welfare state", drew a gloomy picture at a press conference on Maundy Thursday, according to Klaus Seltenheim, the SPÖ's federal managing director.

SPÖ wants to show "red card"
Seltenheim recalled, among other things, that under an ÖVP-FPÖ government, Good Friday was abolished as a public holiday for members of certain religious communities - this shows the "anti-social policy" of such a coalition. Seltenheim criticized the "salami-slicing tactic" of taking away even more of the rights of female employees. The SPÖ is showing this "the red card".

Federal Managing Director Klaus Seltenheim warns against "dismantling democracy" and "destroying the welfare state".

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Blue and Black have no respect for employees, but "only cuts and cuts", while only the super-rich can have hope. SPÖ leader Andreas Babler, on the other hand, is "the opposite model".

"Voters, listen to the signals"
 The signs of a new coalition between the FPÖ and ÖVP are increasing, believes Seltenheim. "Voters, listen to the signals!" he said, alluding to "The International", the battle song of the socialist workers' movement. It is the SPÖ's greatest political mission "to prevent this terrible coalition", explained the red federal managing director. "The danger of an authoritarian turnaround is greater than ever."

ÖVP denial not credible for SPÖ
Seltenheim does not buy the ÖVP's assurances that renowned ÖVP representatives do not want to enter into a coalition with FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl: "Maintaining power and posts" are "more important to the ÖVP than decency and morality". Moreover, the ÖVP was already in coalition with the Freedom Party in Lower Austria, Salzburg and Upper Austria. Seltenheim had no kind words for the ÖVP either: it mocks the judiciary and freedom of the press, recommends McDonald's burgers to poor children and is a "stooge for the right and right-wing extremists".

Seltenheim does not believe that he is breaking porcelain for future cooperation: he assumes that the ÖVP will "come to its senses" and is optimistic that the current ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer will no longer sit at the negotiating table after the election and that the "hardliners from Lower Austria" will no longer be in charge.

Christian Stocker disagrees
The ÖVP did not take the accusations lying down. "The People's Party has clearly ruled out a coalition with Kickl - the SPÖ has not," explained Federal Secretary Christian Stocker in a statement: "It remains quite clear: anyone who wants to prevent an extreme right-wing Kickl in government must not place their trust in other extremes. The only remaining guarantor for a centrist policy is the People's Party."