Helmut Brandstätter:

“Vilimsky acts like Putin’s press spokesman”

(Bild: krone.tv)

No one is taking such a pro-European approach to the EU election campaign as the NEOS. Top candidate Helmut Brandstätter, for example, is propagating the "United States of Europe" or the possibility of a separate EU army.

"As far as the United States is concerned, Europe has always lived on visions. It is about a common foreign and cultural policy. About the commonality of people and regions." However, the NEOS leadership candidate is not concerned with dissolving nation states, but rather with finding more common ground.

Vilimsky is always shouting
With his own EU army, he wants to underline Europe's right to defend itself. He wants to promote European missile defense and Austria's commitment to participating in Sky Shield is also the right thing to do. Brandstätter: "Austria is neutral and does not supply weapons. This has also been met with understanding during my many visits to Ukraine. But we don't want to be Putin's slaves."

Brandstätter outlines his relationship with FPÖ top candidate Harald Vilimsky as follows: "I keep trying to talk to him. But he always shouts the same. Vilimsky also acts like Putin's press spokesman. The FPÖ does everything the Russians want. But proposing Orban for Commission President is even worse." Especially as Brandstätter believes that Austrian businesses in Hungary are also at risk and could be expropriated. 

Nehammer in the 19th century
Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer's proposal to convene a summit against the end of the combustion engine is met with complete incomprehension by the NEOS EU lead candidate.

Brandstätter: "This is a summit of the nineteenth century. This is yesterday's politics. But we are already in the twenty-first century!" In any case, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is currently making a political shift to the right by rowing back on the combustion engine phase-out, according to the NEOS EU lead candidate  

Watch the full interview in the video above.