"Krone" commentary

No lighthouses, but proper policies

Commentary on the major issues affecting Austria: Klaus Herrmann, Managing Editor-in-Chief

(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

The government program is in place - 151 days after the National Council elections. Hooray? Yay? "Good things come to those who wait"?

What did we expect? After the elections, many Austrians hoped for a blue chancellor and a new policy and were disappointed because Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen did not give election winner Herbert Kickl the mandate to form a government.

Many then hoped for a new kind of three-party government of the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS with a number of so-called "lighthouses", with major projects that would lead the Republic into a bright future.

After the sweet dreams seemed to have been shattered once and for all at the beginning of January, the blue dreams were revived. But Herbert Kickl was not satisfied with lighthouses; he raised his own expectations and those of his potential coalition partner to lofty heights that no one could climb.

This was followed by great disillusionment. There is no longer any talk of beacons of light, only of light at the end of the tunnel. The coalition, which seemed to be history once and for all, is now actually on the doorstep - even if behind the door the NEOS with their members' survey on Sunday and the SPÖ with their internal party power struggle still have some potential for this government to collapse before it is sworn in.

Let's assume, however, that this turquoise/black-red-pink government will actually be sworn in on Rose Monday. "Do the right thing now" has become its sober motto.

A sober view: The country is not expecting any beacons of light from this government. It will certainly not manage to "do the right thing now" in all areas. But we must hope that this government, born out of necessity, will at least succeed in doing the right thing in many respects. No shining beacons - but at least the light must not go out in our country. Expectations are low, but the demand is clear: the government must make proper policies for the country, for the Austrians.