Business meeting in Vienna

FPÖ leader Kunasek wants to be a “loosener of screws”

Mario Kunasek (FPÖ) and Thomas Prantner (Managing Director of communications agency C3) at the talk.

(Bild: Holl Reinhard)

Mario Kunasek, the Styrian leader of the FPÖ, spoke at a business meeting in Vienna on Monday evening about his plans for the future of Styria. If he becomes governor in the near future, he wants to loosen outdated structures - "and sanction those who don't want to contribute to society".

The countdown to the Styrian state elections has begun. Accordingly, all the top candidates are making one last appearance this week - including Mario Kunasek on Monday evening in Vienna. Thomas Prantner, Managing Director of the communications agency C3, invited the Styrian FPÖ leader to a talk at the Management Club. The invitation was accepted by numerous representatives of the local media and business world - including Günter Dörflinger, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kages, FPÖ Provincial Party Secretary Stefan Hermann and Ankünder Managing Director Dieter Weber. And, particularly noteworthy, the former Voest Central Works Council member Sepp Gritz. An arch-redhead.

Breaking up encrusted structures
One hot topic was national defense, the hobbyhorse of the former Minister of Defense. Kunasek called for more money for the army and its personnel. In general, according to the FPÖ leader, top performers should be rewarded in Austria "and those who don't want to contribute to society should be sanctioned".

What would happen if he became governor? Well, in that case he would act as a "loosener of screws" who would break up encrusted structures. On the asylum issue, for example, he would create a new integration model: "Because it's not the Styrians who have to adapt, but the guest!" If Kunasek does not come first, he can still imagine a blue coalition government: "Except with the KPÖ and the Greens."

Curious detail in passing: the not-yet-governor described Hermann Schützenhöfer as "one of my predecessors".