FPÖ plays down the case

Turmoil over blue regulars’ table: ÖVP now reacts

On Wednesday, the ÖVP commented on the less than polite statements made by two FPÖ members of the National Council.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

The less than polite statements made by two FPÖ members of the National Council about the People's Party at a blue regulars' table in Vienna continue to preoccupy Austrian domestic politics. Now the ÖVP has also spoken out. The Freedom Party is again trying to calm things down. 

The blue politicians Harald Stefan and Markus Tschank had described the potential coalition partner ÖVP as "pathetic". 

Secretly recorded recording 
According to a recording of a regulars' table discussion secretly recorded by a French TV station, the two FPÖ MPs said that the EU should "actually" be left.

Harald Stefan (FPÖ)

(Bild: APA/HERBERT NEUBAUER)

Markus Tschank (FPÖ)

(Bild: APA Pool/APA/HANS PUTZ)

ÖVP "disconcerted"
"We are disconcerted by the statements of FPÖ politicians who openly wish to leave the European Community," said the ÖVP on Wednesday. "It is clear to us that a possible government program must be clearly pro-European. It needs a clear commitment that Austria will remain a reliable and constructive part of the European Union. With us, there will be no Öxit," the written statement reads.

With us, there will be no Öxit.

Schriftliche Stellungnahme der Volkspartei

FPÖ general wants to calm the waters
It is understandable that there are personal animosities, said FPÖ General Secretary Christian Hafenecker at a press conference. He tried to calm the waters in view of the current coalition negotiations, especially with regard to the statements about the People's Party. He was certain that similar statements would probably also be made at meetings of ÖVP politicians. "I can't blame anyone for making statements in intimate circles," he said. "That's exactly what happens with the ÖVP." It was important for all parties not to torpedo the government project, he said, speaking out against "petty squabbling".

I can't blame anyone for making statements in intimate circles.

FPÖ-Generalsekretär Christian Hafenecker

Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT

FPÖ-Hofer speaks out in favor of "forgive and forget"
For his part, the FPÖ's leading candidate in Burgenland, Norbert Hofer, struck a conciliatory tone. It was "wise to concentrate on the content at this stage", Hofer commented on the incident on Wednesday in Vienna at a press conference with the Hungarian Minister of the Chancellery, Gergely Gulyás. As Third President of the National Council, he had previously "chaired many meetings and heard many speeches that were no less offensive than what we heard at the regulars' table in Simmering". He is a fan of the "forgive and forget" principle, Hofer emphasized.

The "Standard" was provided with the secret recordings and reported on them first. The regional party secretary of the FPÖ Vienna, Lukas Brucker, criticized the secret recordings and the "Standard": "If left-wing media were to encourage illegal Stasi methods of third parties by using the material, this would be the absolute low point of journalism in this country and should have serious consequences."

"Shit paper": Vienna's FPÖ leader attacks "Standard"
Vienna's FPÖ chairman Dominik Nepp was also not happy with the daily newspaper's report. "5 good years, when this 'shit paper' is finally over", he wrote on X in reference to the FPÖ's National Council election campaign, followed by the hashtag "#presseförderungnurnochfürechtequalitätsmedien".

Criticism also came from the ÖVP in this case. "Nepp uses such crude language that you are left baffled," said constitutional spokesperson Wolfgang Gerstl. Apparently, the Viennese FPÖ leader is already in the election campaign.

The Court of Audit also reacts to the rip-off posting
And even Court of Audit President Margit Kraker felt compelled to make a clarification, without naming Nepp or the current case specifically.

"State subsidies are taxpayers' money. They are not the money of those in power," she wrote on social media. "Grants are awarded according to guidelines and objectively according to their purpose. And not because the funding recipient likes it or not. That's the way it is."