Rabitsch shakes up the SP

New deputy: “I’m a works council member for Klagenfurt!”

Tense distances at the SP press conference: Rabitsch, flanked by Kucher and Mochar, with city councillor Franz Petritz standing far to the side.(Bild: Kerstin Wassermann)

The Klagenfurt SP is trying to make a fresh start after the chat affair: Ronald Rabitsch is moving from the Kabeg central works council to the town hall, where he wants to pursue politics "at eye level". It is still unclear which departments the 41-year-old will take over - what is certain is that he has a lot to do, including within the city party: "It can't go on like this," he says.

One condition for Rabitsch to answer the call to politics was to "take on full responsibility". This is why he is to replace Philip Kucher as leader of the city party in the fall; a role that Kucher has attempted to fulfill in a balancing act between the National Council in Vienna and his days in Klagenfurt. With the familiar result: although the SP is the strongest party in the city senate and municipal council, nothing is happening in terms of day-to-day politics. Instead, the party has been smashed by its own statements such as "Bad for the city, good for the party", which originate from a red chat and were gleefully posted all over the city by Team Kärnten.

Tense distances at the SP press conference: Rabitsch, flanked by Kucher and Mochar, with city councillor Franz Petritz standing far to the side.(Bild: Kerstin Wassermann)

"We have to apologize for this," says Kucher at the presentation of Ronald Rabitsch as a sign of a new start for Klagenfurt. "Ron is modern and down-to-earth at the same time, he simply likes people - that's how politics should be." The designated Deputy Mayor promises to be there for the people of Klagenfurt: "I am their works council!"

It remains to be seen which departments he will take on. However, the topic of "affordable housing" is important to him and he cites examples from everyday life at Kabeg: "On average, the works council has been able to allocate around 70.80 new apartments around this time because they have become available. This year we are holding at 15! Nobody is moving out because they can't afford a larger apartment. And at Kabeg alone, we had 250 inquiries, including urgent ones where people don't know where to go or how to pay the rent of 1,000 euros."

What happens now in Klagenfurt? Rabitsch is now seeking talks with his party colleagues, where further personnel and content-related decisions will be made at a club meeting next Monday. At the same time, he wants to approach all parties and people in the town hall to get a message across: "People don't want to read about our internal problems, they want us to make progress in our beautiful city." He does not want a grace period of 100 days for his familiarization phase - but at least ten days to get an overview of how the magistrate differs from Kabeg.