In the green background

Former “friend” attacks Lena Schilling

"I was (...) totally worried about my girlfriend", said Lena Schilling in the "Krone" interview - this "worry" was now her undoing.

(Bild: Groh Klemens)

As if that wasn't enough: since Friday, a dramatic Facebook post by a former "friend" of Green top candidate Lena Schilling has been making the rounds: Veronika Bohrn Mena has been through "hell" in the last week, she writes. And then adds a lot more. In the meantime, rumors are rife behind the scenes about the background to the Green debacle.

The latest post in the case was quickly picked up by the usual suspects and widely circulated. In it, Bohrn Mena complains about the "attacks and attacks" that she has apparently had to endure for a week. In addition, Schilling had "not once asked her whether I was doing well in my marriage". And then: "Instead, Lena told several people (...) that I was being beaten up and injured by Sebastian (her husband, editor's note) and had even suffered a miscarriage as a result."

Legal dispute as background
As a reminder: the background to these statements is a civil lawsuit brought against Schilling by the militant activist couple Bohrn Mena. She had previously signed a cease-and-desist agreement to put an end to the problem. However, according to the "Krone" newspaper, the Bohrn Menas themselves sent the settlement to selected media outlets, triggering a huge avalanche ...

Jealousy of an "outsider"
According to insiders, the whole drama is probably due to internal affairs. The Greens had not managed to put forward a top candidate from their own ranks. When it came to Lena Schilling, who is not a die-hard Green but an activist from the Fridays for Future movement, some in the grassroots became jealous and began to dismiss their own candidate with rumors. A Green masterstroke that will cost many votes.

"I was (...) totally worried about my girlfriend", said Lena Schilling in the "Krone" interview - this "worry" was now her undoing.

(Bild: Groh Klemens)

Lena Schilling will continue to smile from the green election posters.

(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

An industry expert added to krone.at that it was interesting that media outlets such as "Standard" and ORF, which are particularly sympathetic to the Greens, were taking part in this and instrumentalizing accusations that could easily be classified as sexist against a young woman. At the end of the day, this could even become a case for the Press Council, it is said.

Plummeting confidence index
In any case, Schilling and the Greens are now considered to have been knocked out - the young leading candidate recently also plummeted in the APA trust index, the lowest fall ever. Nevertheless, the Greens presented a new series of posters on Friday - and the non-party top candidate can also be seen there again. So there is still no talk of a withdrawal. Only this much: she regrets it if she has offended anyone through her actions, says Schilling.

In response to the vehement accusations, the 23-year-old also said succinctly: The rumor that she had claimed that her sponsor Sigrid Maurer had assaulted her was simply false. She also rejected accusations that she had almost cost a journalist his job.

"Sent around and played politics"
Incidentally, Schilling had already commented on the "Bohrn Mena case" with Conny Bischofberger: "I never wanted this to become public knowledge. I deeply regret that it caused offense and misunderstandings because my concerns were passed on by others. That's why I signed the settlement. (...). But I also regret something else: namely that this settlement is now being sent around by people and used to play politics."

In the meantime, it is not only opinion pollsters who are asking themselves who will ultimately benefit from this unworthy drama, apart from the media attention for the individual parties involved. This much seems certain: politics in general and the heated mood in the country in no way. Only the Freedom Party could once again profit from this issue.

The blue EU top candidate Harald Vilimsky, for example, took a protective stance against the Green candidate in the TV elephant round of "Puls 24" in cooperation with the "Krone". "He did this cleverly by combining it with attacks on the Freedom Party," analyzed Christoph Haselmayer, opinion researcher at the Institute for Demoscopy and Data Analysis. Five years after Ibiza, the FPÖ is known to have regained strength and is on course to become chancellor.

"Who doesn't make mistakes as a young person?"
Defensive words have also been heard recently from the ÖVP - at least indirectly, namely from State Secretary for Youth Claudia Plakolm. Even the Federal President defended Schilling, saying among other things: "Who doesn't make mistakes as a young person?"

ÖVP EU top candidate Reinhold Lopatka, on the other hand, openly urged Schilling to offer her resignation.