Communications expert:

“Greens have been highly active right from the start”

(Bild: krone.tv)

The EU elections are fast approaching. The intensive election campaign is already underway - not least due to the Lena Schilling case. But what makes the leading candidates of the Austrian parties tick? Communications expert Jürgen Eisserer took a closer look at Reinhold Lopatka (ÖVP), Andreas Schieder (SPÖ), Harald Vilimsky (FPÖ), Lena Schilling (Greens) and Helmut Brandstätter (Neos).

In addition to the spoken word, Eisserer pays particular attention to what you don't hear or perhaps only subtly notice in his analyses. In other words: body language, facial expressions, gestures. A good speaker is not always a good politician, but: "The clearer and more precise the messages are, the better." As a politician, you also need to be trained in "battle rhetoric". "The better you can withstand difficult situations in discussion formats, the better suited you are for politics. Because there's always a headwind."

Those who demand transparency must deliver transparency
The Greens in particular are currently demonstrating how not to communicate. "The Greens in particular stand for and demand transparent politics, and you have to set an example accordingly." Eisserer would have liked a calm counter-offensive at the beginning of the Lena Schilling case. "You have to disclose what has happened here and what can be done about it." If there are further headwinds, the intensity of the campaign will increase: "You have to argue with clear arguments." It is only in the final phase that the campaign is highly intensive. "Unfortunately, that was already the case in the first phase." Eisserer refers to Werner Kogler, who worked intensively with verbal attacks right at the beginning and later even apologized for it.

Communications expert Jürgen Eisserer

(Bild: krone.tv)

According to Eisserer, the responsibility of a top EU candidate is insanely great. Media training and communication courses are an absolute must. "I need to be rhetorically fit enough to be able to withstand a certain level of headwind in any discussion or at least have the tools to deal with such situations. And that is only partially the case here. And from my personal rhetorical point of view, that was an unfortunate choice."