SPÖ/ÖVP negotiations

Ludwig: “Doris Bures will make a strong contribution”

If Vienna's mayor has his way, then SPÖ leader Babler will not be the sole leader of the current government negotiations, but Doris Bures (right) will be "heavily involved".

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/Helmut Fohringer)

Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) made it clear on Sunday that SPÖ leader Andreas Babler, who is unpopular with the ÖVP and NEOS, is not the sole leader of the Social Democrats in the current government negotiations.

He had proposed to the party presidium that "the SPÖ negotiating team should be seen as a collegial body", said Ludwig. The Third President of the National Council, Doris Bures, would "make a strong contribution", he explained.

The mayor sidestepped the question of whether Babler would lead the SPÖ into new elections if the negotiations were to fail: "If Herbert Kickl and the ÖVP fail to form a government, I am against the idea of automatically discussing personnel within the SPÖ".

At the weekend, the ÖVP and SPÖ are once again sounding out the possibility of government cooperation away from the public eye. However, there are also some stumbling blocks. According to the notes, these include lowering non-wage labor costs, merging the social insurance institutions and adjusting unemployment benefits and unemployment assistance in line with inflation. Alternatively, these benefits could also decrease over the course of unemployment.

These are the sticking points between the ÖVP and SPÖ:

A nationwide ban on smoking in playgrounds, a free climate ticket for everyone up to the age of 18, affordable housing and cannabis legalization were also debated.

New elections probably not an option for the ÖVP
From the ÖVP's point of view, a concession is probably unavoidable, as current polls clearly speak against new elections from a Turkish perspective. According to a recent poll conducted by IFDD on behalf of Puls 24, the ÖVP would only come in 19 percent behind the FPÖ and SPÖ. The Blue Party would currently achieve 33 percent, the Social Democrats 22 percent.