"Krone" commentary

Brussels’ scandalous plan to copy the Mercosur agreement

(Bild: Alexander Schwarzl, Markus Wenzel, Krone KREATIV)

The method is not new with the blue party. The language level is constantly being leveled down until verbal derailments become the norm. In matters of asylum, the FPÖ has used this practice to promote the radicalization of language.

The latest statement by Harald Vilimsky, the FPÖ's head of delegation in the EU Parliament, marks a new low. This time, however, it is not about migration, but about unabashed contempt for women.

In a press conference, he described the President of the EU Parliament Roberta Metsola, ECB President Christine Lagarde and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as a "political witch trio".

This sexism was not enough for Vilimsky; he also had to include a threat of violence in his statement: He thus announced that he would "let this cabinet of horrors feel the lash".

Almost at the same time, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen warned at the Bregenz Festival that "contempt should not be an election program". An appeal that will probably go unheard by the blue party.

The women's spokeswomen of the SPÖ and the Greens are now demanding an apology. To use Vilimsky's language, it would probably be more appropriate to call for a mask of shame. In the Middle Ages, the iron mask was a method of punishment for insults or moral misconduct. The wearer of the mask was publicly exposed to ridicule.