Massive calls for resignation

FPÖ blames Nehammer, Doskozil not unhappy

(Bild: AFP)

After the NEOS surprisingly announced on Friday morning that they were leaving the government negotiations between the black, red and pink parties, the FPÖ has now identified the culprit for the fiasco.

For FPÖ chairman Herbert Kickl , the NEOS withdrawal "finally broke the camel's back". The Freedom Party had been warning for months about the "political freak of the loser traffic light".

"Karl Nehammer was voted out of office by the people on September 29. He has not accepted this fact for over three months to this day," Kickl wrote on Facebook. Nehammer had ignored the Freedom Party's warnings about the "loser traffic light" because he was concerned about his job as chancellor. Nehammer must comment on the events immediately, Kickl demanded, as well as his resignation.

Karl Nehammer (left) should - if the FPÖ has its way - resign following the NEOS' withdrawal from the coalition negotiations.

(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer)

Landbauer: "Immediate resignation"
The tone from the Freedom Party provincial parties is similar: Lower Austria's FPÖ leader Udo Landbauer stated that Austria had been "played for fools" for more than three months. "One business after another has closed, Austria's economic capacity is increasingly going down the drain, but Karl Nehammer wants to remain Federal Chancellor with all his might," said Landbauer, who called on Nehammer to "resign immediately". "Our compatriots deserve a government that finally works for the people."

Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen should also comment on the current chaos, Landbauer demanded.

Haimbuchner: "Important time wasted"
Upper Austrian FPÖ leader Manfred Haimbuchner finds it "good that this spook is over, bad that important time has been wasted". He criticized the Federal President. With his decisions, he had "contributed to important time being stolen from the country", said Haimbuchner.

Abwerzger: "The ball is in the ÖVP's court"
Tyrol's FPÖ leader Markus Abwerzger also called for Nehammer's departure. If he did not want to leave voluntarily, the ÖVP provincial governors would have to "politely ask him to step down": "It is time for an era after Nehammer." In any case, "the ball is now in the ÖVP's court", said Abwerzger. However, Van der Bellen is also responsible, as his actions have caused "instability" and contributed to the chaos. "Stability" is also urgently needed in the Hofburg.

Hofer: "Doomed to failure from the start"
The Blue Party's leading candidate in the Burgenland state election, Norbert Hofer, had previously stated that the negotiations were "doomed to failure from the outset" and criticized Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, who had given the "election loser" the mandate to form a government. What was needed now was a "stable government capable of acting", he demanded.

"The FPÖ has been warning for months about this political freak of the loser's traffic light system based on the German model," said Blue Party General Secretary Michael Schnedlitz, saying that Nehammer was only interested in "his own job as chancellor". 

FPÖ Secretary General Michael Schnedlitz

(Bild: Holl Reinhard/Reinhard Holl)

"It was Van der Bellen"
 Shortly after NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger's statement, the FPÖ politician had already warned against "further games to form an unstable loser variant" and cited a coalition between the ÖVP and SPÖ as an example. He criticized the Federal President: "It was Van der Bellen who ignored the will of the people and tasked the election loser with forming a government just so that Nehammer could remain chancellor."

ÖVP blames the SPÖ
The ÖVP, on the other hand, sees the behavior of the SPÖ as responsible for the fiasco. "While parts of the Social Democrats have contributed constructively, the backward-looking forces in the SPÖ have gained the upper hand in the last few days, causing the NEOS to withdraw from the negotiations," explained ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker.

ÖVP General Stocker: "The SPÖ is to blame."

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

SPÖ: "ÖVP accusations absurd"
Sharp criticism of the NEOS came from SPÖ Federal Managing Director Klaus Seltenheim: "The government negotiations are one size too big for the NEOS. The NEOS are not prepared to take responsibility for Austria. While the SPÖ has worked intensively on real solutions for the benefit of the people, the NEOS, as a nine-percent party, were not prepared to admit that there can be no 100-percent NEOS program."

He rejects the idea that the ÖVP is blaming the SPÖ for the failure. "The NEOS have pulled out of the government negotiations, so to blame the SPÖ for this is completely absurd."

Doskozil: No government mandate for the SPÖ
In Burgenland, on the other hand, they were "not unhappy" about the end of the talks. Governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ), who has a state election to beat in two weeks' time, is now expecting a government of experts and then a new election. He still does not see a government mandate for the SPÖ due to its historically worst performance at the polls in September.

"I was never a friend of this coalition," said Doskozil. Even if the Social Democrats had entered a federal government "for a few ministerial posts and the Vice-Chancellor", this "would certainly not have been an engine for our election", the regional party leader stated.

Hans Peter Doskozil is not sad that nothing came of the sugar-coalition.

(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

Kaiser: "Regrettable, of course"
The red state governor Peter Kaiser sees things a little differently to his counterpart in Burgenland: "It is of course regrettable that the negotiations with the NEOS failed. But it was always clear to us that you can't form a government that only works with mass taxes. However, I believe that what has already been negotiated will be supported at a later stage."

Haslauer: "Wait and see"
Meanwhile, ÖVP Governor Wilfried Haslauer finds the "breakdown of the coalition negotiations regrettable in view of the major challenges facing Austria", he explained. Now it is important to work hard to form a viable government for Austria. "We will have to wait and see how things develop over the next few days," said Haslauer.

Kogler: "Escape from responsibility"
Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler explained that the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS "owe the Austrians answers". The Green emphasized: "They must explain why they have kept the republic waiting for months and then achieved nothing. After sand in the gears and mutual brushing off, we are now seeing a flight from responsibility." Before the next steps are taken, all negotiating parties must explain themselves, Kogler demanded.