100 lost days
Kickl now wants to form a government quickly
After 100 lost days, Herbert Kickl wants to start coalition negotiations quickly. However, he is demanding a change in the ÖVP's political style. The first meeting with Christian Stocker is to take place on Wednesday.
One thing was noticeable at Kickl's first appearance after he was given the task of forming a government in the Hofburg: the FPÖ does not (yet) trust the ÖVP one millimeter. Confidential talks in small groups are intended to bring about a rapprochement - and even more: a basis - for the "coalition of a new type", as Kickl calls it. His aim is to "govern Austria honestly".
After 100 lost days, "clarity is needed quickly" as to whether a coalition is possible, Kickl said at his press conference. This would require changes in the ÖVP and unity: "If this is not guaranteed, then that's it again." The FPÖ is prepared for new elections.
Blue negotiating team revived
The first step towards forming a coalition will be one-on-one talks between Kickl and the new ÖVP leader Christian Stocker. The first meeting is to take place on Wednesday. The blue party executive has given the green light for this. The Freedom Party executive committee meeting also revived the negotiating team that had already been set up for the first - failed - talks with the ÖVP. In addition to Kickl, this team includes the two General Secretaries Michael Schnedlitz and Christian Hafenecker. They are joined by club director Norbert Nemeth, Reinhard Teufel, chairman of the Lower Austrian state parliament, MP Susanne Fürst and manager Arnold Schiefer.
Kickl does not find it easy to talk to the ÖVP
Kickl emphasized in his press conference that he was not looking to the past, but to the future. Being resentful would lead to nothing, even if he understood the skepticism of some warners towards the People's Party: "At first I also thought I wasn't hearing correctly," said the FPÖ leader on the ÖVP's swing towards the Freedom Party.
The fact that he was now talking to the People's Party was not easy for him either. At the same time, he called on the ÖVP to recognize who had become the strongest party and who had ended up in second place.
His speech was also peppered with one or two warnings. A mere verbal repositioning of the ÖVP is not enough for Kickl. "It also needs insight." He now wants "no games, no tricks, no sabotage, no obstructionism, no politics of maintaining power", said Kickl, outlining how he envisages cooperation.
The blue party's mistrust of the ÖVP has a very long history. Kickl already held the People's Party under Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel partly responsible for the split between the FPÖ and BZÖ in Knittelfeld in the early 2000s.
The FPÖ leader experienced his next disappointment in 2019 at the latest: following the publication of the Ibiza video, ÖVP Chancellor Sebastian Kurz demanded that Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen dismiss then Interior Minister Kickl from his post. And so it came to pass.
ÖVP demonstrates a certain composure
In the ÖVP, these warnings are viewed with a certain professional composure. It was clear that Kickl wanted to show that he was in charge after the failure of the government negotiations. "By Kickl's standards, the speech was rather conciliatory. And personal sensitivities play a subordinate role in government negotiations", according to ÖVP circles.
Officially, no ÖVP grandees wanted to comment on Kickl's statements. ÖVP Governor Markus Wallner said with regard to his negative attitude towards Kickl: "Personal wishes are one thing, necessities are another." It was now important to prevent "state crisis-like conditions".
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