Andreas Mölzer:

“European Parliament is just a Pontemkin village”

Andreas Mölzer

(Bild: krone.tv)

In the current "TV duel" between Andreas Mölzer and Eva Glawischnig on krone.tv, the topics discussed included the domestic political consequences of the EU election result, the assessment of whether the election has actually led to a shift to the right in Europe, who could become the future EU Commissioner from Austria and whether it makes sense for Austria to have a government of experts again. 

Regarding the EU election, Eva Glawischnig analyzes: "Every election brings some kind of surprise in the result. In this case, the difference between the three major parties FPÖ, ÖVP and SPÖ was predicted to be much greater. But now the difference between first and third place is only a good two percent." Andreas Mölzer confirms: "This is a clever story for Kickl. Now the FPÖ functionaries have to run a lot again because the difference to the ÖVP with a one percent lead is only so small. Babler also wanted to get into the ring for the chancellor duel. But that will now be reduced to Kickl versus Nehammer. Babler is out." Glawischnig is trying to find a reason why the FPÖ's lead is now much smaller than expected: "Vilimsky's language was very loud and coarse. Perhaps he was simply too loud for people."

Harald Vilimsky celebrates his election victory.

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Mölzer seventh dwarf from the left
The former Green Party frontwoman answers the question of whether the Europe-wide election result was the predicted landslide victory of the right as follows: "In France, Marine Le Pen's 30%-plus is certainly a landslide. In Germany, the AFD was successful, the traffic light government is finally dead." Mölzer adds: "Yes, there was a shift to the right. But there is no unity on the right. Le Pen, for example, won't tolerate anyone who could steal her thunder. That's why the AFD was also excluded from the right-wing parliamentary group alliance. Meloni, on the other hand, believes she is already a kind of star. The European Parliament is just a Potemkin village. I was the seventh dwarf from the left there, or the seventh dwarf out of 710 MEPs at the time."

"Meloni believes she is a kind of star," says Andreas Mölzer.

(Bild: AFP)

Squeezing people in
The question of who could become the next EU Commissioner from Austria was also hotly debated. Mölzer: "The question immediately arises as to whether we need a Commissioner at all. In any case, this is not "our" Commissioner. This designation is not appropriate." For the former MEP, the current situation is as if the federal government wants to implement as much as possible in its final weeks and wants to implement positions that are in the side letter as quickly as possible. Mölzer: "Everything is going fast-fast so that we can squeeze our people in quickly. For example, the EU Commissioner. Or the ORF general. Or the governor of the central bank." Glawischnig denied this intention and the discussion became very emotional during the course of this topic.

You can see all the statements of the two duelists in the video above.