FPÖ meets in Velden

Without a People’s Chancellor, but with a lot of self-confidence

The disappointment at Kickl's absence is palpable.

(Bild: Steiner Clara Milena)

Two weeks before the national elections, the Casineum in Velden (Carinthia) is full - only one person is missing. Federal party chairman Herbert Kickl does not make it to the party conference of the Carinthian FPÖ, state chairman Erwin Angerer is to be re-elected - and he announces a book about Jörg Haider.

Actually, they should both have come: SPÖ federal party leader and top candidate Andreas Babler to his Red Party's family party, which had to be canceled due to bad weather. And FPÖ leader and top candidate Herbert Kickl to the Blue Party conference at the Casineum in Velden. The latter wanted to combine the visit to his home state with other political appointments, but has "too many media appointments" in Vienna before the national elections, as they say in Velden.

Instead, Kickl's deputy, Lower Austrian party chairman Udo Landbauer, and 304 delegates gathered in the Wörthersee community on Friday evening under the motto "Home, Security, Justice". 

And they are cheering - albeit more moderately than in the 2023 state election campaign, for example - against the "icy wind that will blow in the faces of others from September 30", promised by General Secretary Josef Ofner. Regional party chairman Erwin Angerer is to be confirmed in his role as party leader in Carinthia; he is the only candidate.

(Bild: Felix Justich)

(Bild: Felix Justich)

(Bild: Felix Justich)

New book about Jörg Haider
In his first speech, Angerer pays tribute to the late provincial governor Jörg Haider: At a symposium in January 2025, also new and dedicated to him, a new book "about Jörg" is to be presented: "A book by us that tells what he was really like, how he lived, what he achieved."

Haider was "a visionary and political rebel", which is also the name of the book. "Old friends and companions", including his wife "Claudia herself gave us some of Jörg's things, including personal ones, a diary", says Angerer. The publication is "something that we as the Freedom Party owe Jörg - that we work through this."

Kickl only writes to
He would love to swap "many a TV studio for my Carinthian homeland" and the "deep blue Wörthersee", Kickl says in writing - unlike party colleagues from other federal states, he has not recorded a video message.

"Only with a joint effort" will it be possible to end "the black-red-green-pink unity system of power obsession, selfishness and elite obedience" and implement "this 'People's Chancellor' project", Kickl reads.

Angerer re-elected as regional party leader
In his speech, Angerer brings up a few evergreens of the Freedom Party such as security and "climate dictatorship", but also addresses the birth rate. "People must be able to afford to have two, three or four children again. Hungary and France are doing much better," says the Carinthian FPÖ leader, praising two different governments. Otherwise, he offers a colorful mix of topics - against insects on the plate, for schnitzel and cash. 

Angerer is confirmed with 99.31 percent - before the election, he is wished a "communist result".

(Bild: Felix Justich )

Against "orchid topics", for "more normality"
After great applause, Landbauer takes the stage. First he complains about the lyrics of the national anthem and "Winnetou", only to then call for a focus on the important issues himself. From symbols in kindergartens and the abolition of the "gender gap and gender star", he then drifts quickly back into the culture war against "left-wing, woke politics". Only to then enthusiastically work his way through the FPÖ classics of asylum and migration...