Appeal to the party base

Greens call for internal ÖVP uprising against Kickl

Upper Austrian state councillor Stefan Kaineder calls on the ÖVP to make an "emergency stop".

(Bild: Dostal Harald/© Harald Dostal / 2023)

The fact that the ÖVP is making itself a "stirrup holder" for a Chancellor Kickl cannot please those in the party who campaigned for exactly the opposite during the election campaign, says the leader of the Upper Austrian Greens, Stefan Kaineder. He is now calling on the Turkish base to resist within the ÖVP. 

For Kaineder, what is currently happening in Austrian domestic politics is the "biggest voter deception in the Second Republic". In the ÖVP, it is not only former party leader Karl Nehammer who has always ruled out a chancellor named Herbert Kickl. Other turquoise grandees and above all the grassroots had also collected votes in the National Council election campaign by saying no to Kickl.

The ÖVP spent the whole of last summer advertising the fact that Herbert Kickl had to be prevented from becoming chancellor.

Stefan Kaineder, Landessprecher der Grünen OÖ

"Wake-up call" to Christian Socialists
The Upper Austrian Green Party leader is now addressing precisely these ÖVP members: "I would like to send a wake-up call to all those in the ÖVP who see themselves as Christian-social. There is still a chance to pull the emergency brake." What Kaineder means by this is that the ÖVP has not yet agreed to a blue-black coalition - and only a "small circle", i.e. the economic and industrial wing within the ÖVP, has decided over the heads of the functionaries to join forces with the FPÖ after all.  

Greens still hope for government participation
Kaineder now expects an internal party uprising from "the many people who ran for the ÖVP in the election campaign": "Say your opinion loud and clear within your party!" However, when asked by Krone, Kaineder did not want to commit to what would happen in terms of forming a government if the ÖVP were to move away from Kickl after all. Only this much: the Greens have never refused to cooperate and would not do so in the future, he secretly hopes for a Green participation in government.

"Worse than ever before"
The Neos have come in for even harsher criticism than the ÖVP. With their decision to end negotiations with the ÖVP and SPÖ, they had set the ball rolling for a possible Kickl chancellorship. Kaineder: "If (Neos leader, note) Beate Meinl-Reisinger tells us in her press conference that she has negotiated significant successes in the education sector, then I ask myself the question, why doesn't she become education minister and do the country a big favor?" Meinl-Reisinger's justification that she does not want "more of the same" now leads to "worse than ever".