After the end of talks

Schellhorn did not go far enough in negotiations

Neos National Councillor Sepp Schellhorn played a leading role in the negotiations. He supports the withdrawal from the talks due to a lack of willingness to reform.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

The high-ranking Neos negotiator from Salzburg saw the SPÖ as unwilling to reform and the ÖVP as having too much respect for its own provincial governors.

While the last attempts by the ÖVP and SPÖ to forge a coalition only failed on Saturday evening, the Neos had already taken themselves out of the game on Friday. One person who repeatedly voiced his critical opinion during the negotiations was Sepp Schellhorn, a high-ranking Neos negotiator from Goldegg.

In view of this, would he perhaps have preferred to leave the talks earlier? "No," says Schellhorn quite clearly in response to the corresponding "Krone" question. In the final days of the negotiations, however, there were more setbacks than progress, which is why the exit was the right decision. "The SPÖ was not interested in reforms, the ÖVP did not want to upset its provincial governors," reports Schellhorn. This meant that no major reforms were possible.

Dealing with provincial governors like Wilfried Haslauer was a decisive factor in the end.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

"Perhaps I appeared to be critical because I always said during the negotiations that we were not sitting here for pleasure, but to achieve reforms for the people," says Schellhorn. The fact that the atmosphere was particularly difficult between Neos and the SPÖ is also confirmed after the end. "I think it is completely dishonest of the SPÖ to say that we want to raise taxes and intervene in current pensions. That is simply not true," Schellhorn clarifies.

Haslauer now sees the ball in the Federal President's court
Governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP) wrote in a statement on Saturday evening regarding the breakdown of the coalition negotiations: "There is now clarity. The situation must now be reassessed. The Federal President has an important role to play in this." Haslauer also paid tribute to Karl Nehammer's achievements as Chancellor over the past three years.