Kickl rages on:

Van der Bellen is an “elephant in a china store”

FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl accused Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen of not taking his "core task" seriously.(Bild: APA/AFP/JOE KLAMAR)

Blue frustration is still running high after Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen did not give the government formation mandate to the party with the most votes after the National Council elections. "The last word has not yet been spoken," emphasized FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl on Tuesday. In fact, he added a few days later and described the Federal President as an "elephant in a foreign policy china store".

Kickl gratefully accepted a Facebook post by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, in which the latter, on behalf of the Hungarian government, forbade the Austrian head of state from ever again criticizing the "state of Hungarian democracy", and also launched a fierce attack against Van der Bellen on Facebook. "It was always particularly important to you how foreign countries viewed Austria. Once you even put up posters saying 'VDB - FOR THE VIEW OF AUSTRIA IN THE WORLD'. And today? Today you're acting like an elephant in a foreign policy china store."

"Austria's reputation downright ruined"
The blue frontman accused the red-white-red head of state of having "downright ruined Austria's reputation". "One of the core tasks of the Federal President of the Republic of Austria is to strengthen and represent the reputation of our nation in Europe. Does VdB really take this core task seriously? Let everyone see for themselves ...", Kickl continued.

In the direction of Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), Kickl said that he was "too cowardly to enter into negotiations with the FPÖ". Nehammer would therefore rather rely on an "Austro-loser traffic light with the Marxist Babler-SPÖ". Retaining his post was "more important to him than content, the will of the voters and the well-being of our population". A few hours earlier, FPÖ Secretary General Christian Hafenecker had argued similarly and emphasized: "There can only be a stable government that ensures five good years for our population with the FPÖ and Herbert Kickl at the helm."

Exploratory talks between SPÖ and ÖVP
Meanwhile, the SPÖ and ÖVP began their exploratory talks on Friday. During the four-and-a-half-hour meeting, the problem areas and challenges to which a future coalition must give the highest priority were defined. Both Nehammer and SPÖ leader Andreas Babler were cautious afterwards and said that they still had a "long, rocky" road ahead of them.