ÖVP party leader Wöginger

“Who is the biggest enemy – Kickl or Gewessler?”

August Wöginger (ÖVP)

(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

At a conference at Lake Wolfgang, 350 ÖVP functionaries get in the mood for the National Council election campaign. After the defeat in the EU elections, the aim is to regain first place in the fall - the majority want Nehammer and not Kickl as chancellor, the Innviertel ÖVP club leader August Wöginger is convinced. 

"Krone": What do you want to get the functionaries in tune with at the unofficial election campaign kick-off today and tomorrow?
August Wöginger: We are getting in the mood for the coming weeks and months until the election on September 29. We want to draw up a plan at all levels - local parties, mayors, districts - on what needs to be done. It will be a kind of general mobilization.

Do you have the feeling that the Turkish base is still motivated to run for every vote after the bitter losses in the EU elections?
Absolutely! The gap to the FPÖ was very small (FPÖ 25.4%, ÖVP 24.5%, note), many would not have believed us capable of that. I can also feel it in my own district that there is a jolt through the ranks. Everyone believes that we can catch up.

Chancellor Karl Nehammer (l.) and ÖVP party leader August Wöginger in front of the picturesque backdrop of Lake Wolfgang.

(Bild: ÖVP-Klub)

What content should be used to achieve this? Taking up topics that are traditionally occupied by the FPÖ was not so successful.
The question is: Who should be Federal Chancellor? There is a clear majority in favor of Karl Nehammer. Extreme positions, such as those represented by Herbert Kickl (FPÖ leader, note), are rejected by the majority of the population. We are also the only party that has presented a comprehensive plan for all areas of life with the Austria Plan.

Gewessler has committed a breach of the constitution by voting yes to the renaturation law - this is not a trivial offense, but a breach of the law.

ÖVP-Klubchef August Wöginger zum grünen „Sündenfall“

Who is actually the ÖVP's bigger enemy at the moment? Herbert Kickl or Minister Leonore Gewessler from the Greens?
Gewessler has committed a breach of the constitution by voting yes to the renaturation law - that is not a trivial offense, but a breach of the law. But we don't want chaos, we don't want a game of free-for-all in parliament. We want things to continue in an orderly fashion.

Only time will tell whether this is a breach of the law. Politically speaking: Wasn't the reaction of the ÖVP - with the lawsuit, the complaint and the refusal of the black state councillors to meet with her - a little excessive?
No, not at all. Because there is also a lot to be said against the renaturation law in terms of content: all the federal states were initially against it. The question of financing is still completely open. What is actually being asked of the individual member states? What about agriculture and forestry? It is a bureaucratic monster that has not been thought through. The municipalities will be hopelessly overwhelmed. If every minister does what he wants, there will be no coalition.

The SPÖ is having problems coming together internally, if you look at the discussion that Hans Peter Doskozil launched at the weekend. Babler's topics are out of the communist moth box.

ÖVP-Klubchef August Wöginger zum Thema Koalition mit der SPÖ

However, the ÖVP also repeatedly pursues a different course at EU level to its Green coalition partner - the keywords being the combustion engine or migration.
But that is something else. The Renaturation Act directly affects another department, namely the Ministry of Agriculture. Minister Norbert Totschnig said no to the law, but Gewessler approved it anyway.

Because you mentioned the coalition earlier: If it doesn't work with Kickl and Gewessler, is the ÖVP now moving closer to SPÖ leader Andreas Babler?
The SPÖ is having problems getting closer internally, if you look at the discussion that Hans Peter Doskozil launched at the weekend. Left-wing extremism is just as bad as right-wing extremism. And Babler's topics are out of the communist moth box.

So who should the ÖVP even form a coalition with?
The important thing now is to win the election. And Nehammer is far ahead of Kickl in the direct question of chancellor.