In the "Krone" interview:

How Babler plans with taxes and regional parties

SPÖ leader Andreas Babler spoke to the "Krone" newspaper about the election in Styria and the coalition negotiations at federal level.

(Bild: Urbantschitsch Mario/Mario Urbantschitsch)

SPÖ leader Andreas Babler would "not be happy" with an FPÖ-SPÖ government in Styria. In an interview with the "Krone" newspaper, he talks about the negotiations on taxes for millionaires, explains why every euro has to be turned over twice in the coalition negotiations - and whether he believes in a comeback for former SPÖ federal party leader Max Lercher in Styria.

"Krone": Mr. Babler, the SPÖ is now in third place in five federal states and at federal level. When will the comeback that you promised when you took office happen?
Andreas Babler: We are always working on finishing first. But we are currently experiencing a rise in right-wing extremists and right-wing populists, not just in Austria but everywhere. Of course, our aim is to become stronger and we cannot be satisfied that we have only maintained our result from last time. But you have to look at the conditions under which such a result is achieved: we had competition from the left - we were able to seal the deal. People are rightly angry about massive inflation, deteriorating healthcare and the lack of real solutions to the migration issue. Populist and far-right parties across Europe are providing simple answers to these problems and profiting from them. Unfortunately, we did not manage to benefit from this resentment against those in power in the last election - so we will work all the harder to really solve these problems in the future.