Setting the course:

Automatically saved draft

The Green "dual leadership": Daniel Zadra and Eva Hammerer

(Bild: Grüne/Kirstin Tödtling)

At their state assembly, the Vorarlberg Greens have committed themselves to the upcoming elections. The fear of a possible shift to the right is great.

Extremely combative tones could be heard on Saturday morning in the Bregenz Festspielhaus on the occasion of the Vorarlberg Greens' state assembly. First and foremost from Health Minister Johannes Rauch, who warned in forceful words of a shift to the right in the upcoming elections. He said that right-wing parties posed an "existential threat to Europe and our welfare state". He said that he knew from his own experience what a shift to the right meant and added an example from his day-to-day work: "My counterparts in Sweden and Finland have always been reliable partners, but that is now completely gone." Right-wing influences were already destroying the welfare state in Austria too, for example in Lower and Upper Austria, where the FPÖ is in government. "I am deeply convinced that only a social state remains democratic," emphasized Rauch and also gave the party members the motto for the state elections: "Vorarlberg is the last federal state with green government participation, we have to defend that!"

Do we want people like Herbert Kickl to have a direct line to the Vorarlberg state parliament? We certainly don't want that!

Daniel Zadra

Party leader Daniel Zadra, who was elected to first place on the state list for the state elections with an overwhelming 98% vote, picked up on the thread spun by Rauch in his speech: "Do we want people like Kickl to have a direct line to the state parliament? Certainly not! We need a creative force, we need to move forward, not backwards!" He promised to do everything in his power to ensure that the Greens remain a formative force in Vorarlberg together with co-provincial chair Eva Hammerer, who came second on the provincial list with 94.5%: "The two of us will rock the house!"

Behind the already proven double vote of Zadra/Hammerer, state parliament member Christine Bösch-Vetter made it to third place on the state list; the Lustenau native prevailed in a battle vote against "Fridays For Future" activist Johannes Hartmann.

Zadra and Hammerer will also run for the first two positions in the districts. The district lists will be decided on May 6 (Bludenz and Feldkirch) and May 7 (Bregenz and Dornbirn). In the 2019 state parliamentary elections, five of the seven Green MPs entered the state parliament via the district lists, while two mandataries made it via the state list. At that time, however, the Greens were also able to enjoy a record result of 18.9% of the vote - whether it will reach similar heights in the fall seems at least questionable.