FPÖ Ash Wednesday
Kickl’s big reckoning with the new government
As expected, FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl came down hard on the new three-party government at the Political Ash Wednesday in Ried in Upper Austria. In the Jahnturnhalle gymnasium, he proclaimed himself the "not-yet-chancellor", dealt out hearty blows in all directions and even recited a "Zuckerl" poem. Important companions were missing, however.
It seems that not everyone in the FPÖ is standing together in the front row anymore: When the traditional meeting of the Freedom Party in Ried im Innkreis started on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m., the seats of some of the Freedom Party's key figures remained empty: the two General Secretaries Michael Schnedlitz and Christian Hafenecker let their party chairman drive to Ried alone. National Council President Walter Rosenkranz also canceled, as did Salzburg's Marlene Svazek and Styrian state leader Mario Kunasek. Things have been different in the FPÖ before.
Ombudswoman Elisabeth Schwetz was welcomed as one of the highest representatives, otherwise members of the National Council and state politicians came - and two AfD politicians from Germany: Katrin Ebner Steiner, Chairwoman of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament, and Markus Waldbrunn, member of the Bavarian state parliament. Their appearance was met with great applause.
It was a little more crowded than usual - even though Kickl had promised at this point a year ago that he would return as the "People's Chancellor". As is well known, he did not become one, the Blue Party is in opposition - and in its element. Even before the event, it was reported that Kickl was not thinking for a second about sparing the Zuckerl coalition on this evening - and he stuck to that promise.
"The not-yet-chancellor, not the not-yet-chancellor"
Kickl was celebrated by 2,000 supporters, who had to pay 18 euros for a seat ticket, a drink and a herring feast. Almost everyone stood and chanted "Herbert, Herbert, Herbert". He had to be careful "that I don't blow everything I've built up in terms of respectability over the past few months", said Kickl. His step back was just a big step towards the next attempt - "straight into the Federal Chancellery". He is the "not-yet-chancellor", not the "but-not-chancellor". This time he had not become the people's chancellor because he had not been prepared to betray his voters. He was also nowhere near as power-hungry as the ÖVP claimed. He simply had a backbone "and not a garden hose".
"If I had known that, I wouldn't have kissed her"
The new government will run out of steam anyway. Until then, "we will also put up with Stocker". Kickl said of the Federal Chancellor: "Nobody voted for him. We have a chancellor without voters, without hair and without a neck." But perhaps the traffic light will soon have a short circuit, "Babler has been twitching like this the whole time anyway". Kickl previously called the new Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisiger "NATO-Beate", just like his deputy. Before that, he worked his way through political opponents who are no longer in politics: Alfred Gusenbauer, Sebastian Kurz, Karl Nehammer. He also mentioned his former classmate Eva Glawischnig, who will soon be appearing on TV's "Dancing Stars": "If I had known that, I wouldn't have kissed her while spinning a bottle."
Kickl sees a "catastrophic swing to the left with the traffic lights" and a government "with two communists - Babler and the finance minister". In any case, he is "not a castrated chancellor's puppet", "nobody will make a second Gusenbauer" out of him, and Kurz and Nehammer are not role models, but deterrent examples. That is why he and the FPÖ are continuing to follow the "straight path", the goal will be achieved - "if not now, then later". He was not prepared to make the kind of compromises that had been made in the government.
Naturally, Kickl also took a hard line on previous asylum policy, referring in particular to the terrorist attack in Villach, where a 14-year-old was killed, and praised how US President Donald Trump and his Vice President had dealt with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj.
"Until recently, not even the ÖVP itself knew Stocker"
Before Kickl, Upper Austria's deputy governor Manfred Haimbuchner belted out similarly robust words to the audience. He is Kickl's deputy at federal level and the ÖVP's coalition partner in Upper Austria. This was not successful in Vienna, which is why he fired verbally in the direction of the governing parties. He called the new government a motley rainbow troupe, "until recently, not even the ÖVP itself knew Stocker". It had always been clear "that the negotiations with the ÖVP and the other parties were a sham".
Regarding the government program, Haimbuchner said: "In the end, the sweetener is just a bitter pill that we all have to swallow." He referred to Meinl-Reisinger (NEOS) as "NATO-Beate". 2027 will be "the year of freedom" in Upper Austria - and then the carnival in Vienna will also be over. The FPÖ could only be delayed, "but we can't be stopped". The train had started to roll and could no longer be stopped.
"The Muslims who live peacefully in our country say the same thing"
Haimbuchner also took a swipe at German federal politics and said that German politics was a case for a closed psychiatric ward. But even there, the blue color is becoming more and more dominant. In any case, the threat in Europe comes from within. Blame fundamentalist Islam, "which has no place here. Muslims who live peacefully in our country say the same thing." The climate - or rather the "climate hysterics" - was also mentioned. In any case, people will not allow their homeland to be destroyed by wind power.
"Jörg Haider invented the Freedom Party exhibition"
The meeting in the Innviertel region has been taking place since 1992, with one exception in times of Corona. This "showcase of the Freedom Party" was invented by Jörg Haider, who did not choose the location by chance. Firstly, the Innviertel is in the immediate vicinity of Bavaria, where Ash Wednesday speeches have a long tradition in the CSU, for example. Secondly, the Upper Austrian districts of Ried im Innkreis, Braunau and Schärding are considered major bastions of the Freedom Party.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
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