"A divided bunch"

Lopatka: Cooperation with the FPÖ in the EU “impossible”

(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

ÖVP EU top candidate Reinhold Lopatka does not consider cooperation with the FPÖ at EU level to be possible. "Name me one point at European level where I could work together with the FPÖ! The FPÖ makes that impossible," he said, once again distancing himself from the Freedom Party. Lopatka believes that the EU climate targets are achievable, even if the 2035 ban on combustion engines is overturned, as he has called for.

Lopatka wants to make the ÖVP the party with the most seats in the election. A second goal is for the European People's Party (EPP), to which the ÖVP belongs, to remain first in Europe, the EU leadership candidate announced in the APA interview. However, the FPÖ has been leading the polls for months, while the ÖVP and SPÖ are currently in a race for second place.

A shift to the right is threatening throughout Europe, said Lopatka. Every election result should "of course be accepted", but a vote for the Freedom Party, which portrays the EU as a warmonger on its posters, would weaken the EU. For him, Brexit was the saddest day since Austria joined the EU, "for the FPÖ it was a day of celebration". If Brexit were to happen, it would be associated with a "massive loss of prosperity".

Reinhold Lopatka was not the ÖVP's first choice for the position of EU lead candidate.

(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

Right-wing parties a "divided bunch"
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (EPP) had not ruled out cooperation with the Group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) - which includes the ultra-right Fratelli d'Italia - for a possible second term in office. Lopatka believes that cooperation with other groups would be easier. "When you talk about the right-wing parties, you're talking about a divided bunch," he said of the ECR and the Identity and Democracy (ID) group. There are "huge differences" between individual parties when it comes to their position on the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, for example. In particular, Lopatka believes that cooperation with the ID, which includes the FPÖ and the German AfD, is impossible given their positions. For example, the AfD claims in its election manifesto that the EU has failed, which Lopatka rejects with reference to human rights and personal freedoms.

Two issues that the ÖVP is trying to push through domestically are also to be tackled at EU level, according to the election manifesto: For example, the Ministry of the Interior is currently working on tightening up family reunification. "It is best to have uniform regulations across Europe," says Lopatka. If changes are not possible here, "what we already have will happen". Despite Schengen, there are border controls in eleven of the 27 member states.

British model as an example for asylum?
With regard to the EU's asylum policy in general, Lopatka reiterated that the aim was to deport people and carry out asylum procedures in third countries that are safe. "I am excluding Libya here, all other countries are partners for me, where we must work intensively to reach precisely such agreements." The British model of deporting irregular migrants to Rwanda could be a role model. "The aim is to do this in transit zones or in third countries directly at the border."

The election manifesto also includes the goal of uniform standards for the surveillance of mobile communications as part of investigations. The Ministry of the Interior has already drafted a law for the surveillance of messenger services, while the Green-led Ministry of Justice has so far rejected the installation of malware and leaving security gaps open on devices due to constitutional concerns. Lopatka, who would like to see "more Europe" in this area, said that if threats are working internationally with highly modern methods, the response can only be "an international one".

Lopatka believes that the EU's climate targets are achievable even with the continued existence of the combustion engine demanded by his party. He defended the demand to overturn the decision to phase out combustion engines by 2035. "As a politician, I always have to think about those who are socially weaker."

"I have zero to do with climate deniers"
The ÖVP politician does not want the ÖVP motto "Climate protection with common sense" to be understood as a rejection of science, which predominantly calls for more efforts to protect the climate. According to Lopatka, he wants an "open approach to technology" and not for "politics to dictate" that the electric car is the only solution from 2035 onwards. He did not want to deviate from either the climate targets or the knowledge-based approach to them. "So I have absolutely nothing to do with climate deniers. For me, common sense is not a contradiction to science," emphasized the top candidate.

The ÖVP politician opposes the plan not to register any new cars with combustion engines from 2035.

(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

Lopatka believes that the EU climate targets and the Europe-wide goal of climate neutrality by 2050 are achievable, "because I assume that we will move from road to rail, that we will finally standardize these trans-European networks at full speed. I have to do everything I can to push private transport out of urban areas. But I don't want to deprive people in rural areas of their mobility."

No commitment to von der Leyen
When asked whether he would support a second term in office for German CDU politician and EPP lead candidate von der Leyen, Lopatka did not want to commit himself. "You shouldn't make promises before election day that you can't keep," said the ÖVP top candidate. "The round of heads of government is upstream of the European Parliament in this process. I assume that our group will be the strongest. Only the process last time teaches me not to jump to conclusions that may not be correct," Lopatka alluded to the fact that EPP lead candidate Manfred Weber was rejected by the heads of state and government in 2019.

FPÖ: ÖVP is the "destroyer of Austria"
FPÖ top candidate Harald Vilimsky reacted promptly on Sunday to Lopatka's refusal to cooperate with the Freedom Party and asked himself: "Where did Lopatka even get the idea that we want to work with the ÖVP, which constantly sacrifices Austrian interests at the altar in Brussels?" The ÖVP is "the spearhead of the Austria-destroyers" in the EU Parliament.