"Serious mistake"

Social Democrats continue to criticize ÖVP

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

Following the breakdown of the talks, the SPÖ continued to harshly criticize the ÖVP on Sunday. The Vorarlberg SPÖ regional party leader and club chairman Mario Leiter, for example, described the break-off of the ÖVP/SPÖ negotiations by the Turks as a "serious mistake". All parties involved had "tried to find viable compromises".

From Leiter's point of view, who himself had been part of the red negotiating team, an agreement "was certainly possible". The ÖVP is now "leaving Austria in a phase of uncertainty".

Respect is paid to Nehammer
The Vorarlberger paid tribute to the outgoing Federal Chancellor and ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer. He had "kept his word on at least one point", namely that the FPÖ was "not an option" for him.

For Lower Austria's SPÖ regional party leader Sven Hergovich, the end of the government negotiations is "very regrettable". It was "wrong of the ÖVP to break off the talks instead of seeking a compromise", while at the same time "everyone will have to face up to the reality that mistakes have been made on all sides". He hoped "that a strong social signature will not be lost in Austria even after these talks", emphasized the Provincial Councillor.

It is always easy to point the finger at others, emphasized Hergovich. "But ultimately everyone will have to face up to the reality that mistakes have been made on all sides," explained the SPÖ politician.

ÖVP reaction: SPÖ "not capable of negotiating"
"It is regrettable that Sven Hergovich is now being sent forward to blame the ÖVP for the failure of the coalition negotiations", reacted Matthias Zauner, regional director of the People's Party of Lower Austria. The SPÖ had "once again proven itself to be incapable of negotiating at a federal level, just as it had at a provincial level in Lower Austria".

FPÖ against apportioning blame
The Carinthian FPÖ leader Erwin Angerer said that mutual recriminations between the ÖVP and SPÖ as to who was responsible for the failure would not help the country. The "anti-Kickl unity party, above all the ÖVP, has plunged the country into chaos with the support of Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen", said the Carinthian. The ÖVP must now quickly clarify Nehammer's successor.

NEOS feel vindicated
Tyrol's NEOS state spokesperson Dominik Oberhofer saw his party's decision to withdraw from the coalition negotiations with the ÖVP and SPÖ as "vindicated". The two parties were "not fit for purpose" and there was "simply a lack of will to tackle reforms in order to bring about real change in this country."