Battle for votes

ÖVP attacks FPÖ with “Öxit” letter in final EU spurt

ÖVP top candidate Reinhold Lopatka (archive photo)

(Bild: APA Pool/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

In the final spurt of the EU elections, ÖVP top candidate Reinhold Lopatka addresses his Freedom Party opponent Harald Vilimsky in an open letter. In it, he calls for the "Öxit" demands to be stopped. The behavior of the FPÖ man is not worthy of a top candidate.

"Say goodbye to Öxit for good", Lopatka demands in the letter, which was distributed on Tuesday. He accuses the FPÖ top candidate of constantly flirting with leaving the European Union and thus putting prosperity at risk.

In addition to turning away from "Öxit" and a commitment to Austria's EU membership, the FPÖ is also called upon to end "its complicity with Putin's authoritarian regime", resist Russian attempts to exert influence and stop "the devaluation of European institutions".

Lopatka criticizes "madhouse" slogan
Insulting the EU Parliament as a "madhouse" is not worthy of a top candidate, said Lopatka. Thirty years ago, the Austrians had decided in favor of EU accession and a common Europe, but the Freedom Party had not learned anything since then. "Accession has paid off!" said the ÖVP top candidate.

The open ÖVP letter to read:

No tariffs and a common currency had turned out to be prosperity factors. "However, the FPÖ is recklessly jeopardizing these achievements with its Öxit efforts," the letter continues.

The FPÖ is now called upon to cooperate: "Opposing everything that advances our common Europe out of principle and party political calculation helps no one."

In the election campaign so far, Vilimsky has repeatedly emphasized that he is in favour of reforming the Union and drastically reducing the size of the European Parliament. As an election goal, the blue candidate said: "The more, the better." More important, however, was an international alliance of "liberal, center-right and conservative politicians" in the EU Parliament. He is running his campaign with the slogan "Stop EU madness".

ÖVP fights for last votes
The ÖVP is lagging well behind the FPÖ in the EU election polls. Pollsters put the Freedom Party at 26 to 30 percent. The People's Party recently failed to gain more than 23 percent. On Thursday, the ÖVP wants to mobilize its voters once again and is inviting them to the party headquarters in Lichtenfelsgasse for the end of the election campaign.

In addition to Lopatka, ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker will also be there, but not party leader and Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer. Vilimsky recently commented on the Chancellor's absence with: "ÖVP, where the boss sneaks away when things aren't going well." When asked by krone.at, the Chancellor's Office said that there were scheduling conflicts. Nehammer will see off the ÖFB team for the European Football Championship on Thursday.