Austrian Elections & Politics 4.0

[DavidB.]

The Salzburg coalition formation is a great example to use when convincing real right-wingers to vote FPÖ instead of ÖVP: vote ÖVP, get the Greens. Just wonderful.

Greetings from Niederösterreich.

[Tender Branson]

The Salzburg coalition formation is a great example to use when convincing real right-wingers to vote FPÖ instead of ÖVP: vote ÖVP, get the Greens. Just wonderful.

Greetings from Niederösterreich.

Maybe, but it was already known before the election that Haslauer (ÖVP) has problems with either the FPÖ or the SPÖ as coalition partners. The first ones because they are too radical and because Marlene Svazek (FPÖ) attacked him early on during the campaign, which he might have not liked, and the SPÖ because of personal relationship problems resulting from the 2013 investment scandal and the blame-games afterwards.

I think that ÖVP-Greens-NEOS would be a really good coalition for Salzburg.

[Tender Branson]

Today, commemorations for the end of WW2 took place at the former Mauthausen Concentration Camp.

Missing: the FPÖ or their politicians. They were not invited or allowed to enter the Mauthausen complex by the Austrian Jewish Committe (which the FPÖ didn't like and complained about: "We want reconciliation with the Jewish community on the Holocaust. Disinviting us is the wrong thing to do").

In his speech, Oskar Deutsch (the president of the AJC), strongly attacked the FPÖ and their continued nazi-scandals over the past weeks and months, despite being in government now as a reason to continue excluding them from these events. A "commemoration with the FPÖ present here would be a shame".

[Tender Branson]

Huge surprise in the Innsbruck mayoral runoff election today:





Georg Willi, the Green candidate, beats the incumbent mayor Christine Oppitz-Plörer (FI) and becomes the first Green mayor of a major Austrian city or state capital.

This is some really good news for the Greens, but on the other hand also a personality election (which doesn't really help them in list elections such as the federal elections).

Also of notice:

It is Willi's 59th birthday today. He was born in 1959. A very nice birthday present by voters (although receiving 59% of the vote would have been really cool).

[DavidB.]

Today, commemorations for the end of WW2 took place at the former Mauthausen Concentration Camp.

Missing: the FPÖ or their politicians. They were not invited or allowed to enter the Mauthausen complex by the Austrian Jewish Committe (which the FPÖ didn't like and complained about: "We want reconciliation with the Jewish community on the Holocaust. Disinviting us is the wrong thing to do").

In his speech, Oskar Deutsch (the president of the AJC), strongly attacked the FPÖ and their continued nazi-scandals over the past weeks and months, despite being in government now as a reason to continue excluding them from these events. A "commemoration with the FPÖ present here would be a shame".

Total frauds, this Austrian Jewish Committee, and dangerous ones at that. I'll side with Strache over such morons every day.

[Tender Branson]

Next huge surprise today:

NEOS leader Matthias Strolz is about to step down after lunch in a press conference.

Nobody knows really why though ... they had pretty good election results lately. Could be something personal (hopefully no sickness).

[Tender Branson]

A very emotional NEOS-leader Matthias Strolz at his resignation press conference today:

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Strolz said that his exit as liberal NEOS leader comes just at the right moment, with the party's "pioneer phase" being over and the first government participation in Salzburg coming in the next few weeks.

https://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/5419083/Matthias-Strolz-Abschied_Ich-bin-der-Pilot-meines-Lebens

[Tender Branson]

It is extremely likely that Vienna's NEOS-leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger will take over the federal party now:

[DavidB.]

Deputy Chancellor HC Strache today made a very moving speech at the commemoration ceremony of Austria's liberation from the Nazis (May 8, 1945), stating in unequivocal terms that Nazism and the Shoah were horrific and cruel, and that antisemitism can never be tolerated.

[Tender Branson]

Deputy Chancellor HC Strache today made a very moving speech at the commemoration ceremony of Austria's liberation from the Nazis (May 8, 1945), stating in unequivocal terms that Nazism and the Shoah were horrific and cruel, and that antisemitism can never be tolerated.

Arik Brauer, a Jewish artist from Vienna (who's parents were murdered in a concentration camp and he himself avoided it by hiding), shakes hands with Strache:



In 20 minutes, the "Festival of Joy" will be celebrated in Vienna, in which the FPÖ has also not been invited (because it is organized by the Austrian Jewish Committee and the Mauthausen Committee, who are still at war with the FPÖ). The event mentioned by David B. was an official state event, so Strache and the FPÖ were present of course.

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http://www.festderfreude.at/en

[DavidB.]

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Very moving. The Dutch always "do" Commemoration Day on May 4th and stand in silence for two minutes at 8 PM. Since I was in Vienna on May 4th this year, I chose to do this at the Heldenplatz: the place where the nightmare for Viennese Jews, including my grandfather and his family, began, and where I can now stand in freedom to remember the victims of Nazi terror.

[Tender Branson]

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Very moving. The Dutch always "do" Commemoration Day on May 4th and stand in silence for two minutes at 8 PM. Since I was in Vienna on May 4th this year, I chose to do this at the Heldenplatz: the place where the nightmare for Viennese Jews, including my grandfather and his family, began, and where I can now stand in freedom.

I should also note that Arik Brauer, who shook hands with Strache today, has a similar position to yourself: he also wants the FPÖ to be invited to official Holocaust commemorations organized by the Austrian Jewish organisations. It seems survivors are also split on this issue and many against (and rightly so). I think the FPÖ can be invited at a later point, when no anti-semitic incidents are known anymore out of their ranks. Then it should be the right time, but not now. Right now, it just feels as if the FPÖ thinks they are entitled to be invited to the Holocaust events now that they are in government, but many FPÖers are still secretly anti-semitic ... The Austrian Jews shouldn't do them the favour right now, the FPÖ has to do much, much more to be credible.

[Omega21]

New scandal just went out...

http://m.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/FPOe-Politiker-Nazi-Posting-auf-Facebook/332845430

They really should clean house in their party, even though he was a kid this should not be acceptable.

[DavidB.]

New scandal just went out...

http://m.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/FPOe-Politiker-Nazi-Posting-auf-Facebook/332845430

They really should clean house in their party, even though he was a kid this should not be acceptable.

8 years ago and the guy was 14 or 15. They should have found out about this during his "background check" though, and made him delete it. The fact that he liked his own comment is also atrocious Anyway, if this is all the mainstream media can find, I am not too worried about antisemitism supposedly running rampant within the FPÖ... surely they could find something more spicy than this if that were the case.

[Tender Branson]

Austrian cinemas decided not to air an FPÖ-spot about immigration and skilled workers, because they think the spot is not politically correct and want it censored before they air it.

They say the spot implies that all immigrants are automatically criminals, which I don't see at all when watching the clip:

https://www.facebook.com/fj.ooe/videos/2022228451140078

The ad called "Investing in our youth, instead of demanding immigration." starts by saying that the booming Austrian economy is in need of skilled workers because of a shortage in several sectors, but that the immigrants who came during the 2015-17 immigration swamp are not the ones the economy needs (showing pictures of Arab immigrants showing the middle finger while entering the Labour Market Agency to claim their welfare checks and by arguing that only a handful of those who arrived have found a job within a year in the country while virtually all others claim welfare money).



The clip also shows pictures of a burglar, which is legitimate IMO - considering how crimes such as rapes and drug dealing as well as assaults have spiked after the 2015 immigrant wave.

The spot then goes on with "The FPÖ invests in our own youth, instead of investing in failed immigration by SPÖ and Greens".



https://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/5424536/Kritik-an-FPOeKinospot_Nicht-alle-Auslaender-sind-Einbrecher

[EPG]

I don't think it would be legitimate to depict all Austrians as anti-semitic genocidaires.

[Tender Branson]

New "Profil" magazine poll by Unique Research:

"Do you think Strache (FPÖ) is serious in re-shaping the party by trying to get rid of anti-semitism within their ranks ?"

52% Yes, he's serious (15% very serious, 37% somewhat serious)
46% No, he's not serious (34% not really serious, 12% not serious at all)
  2% Undecided

https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20180512_OTS0003/profil-umfrage-bevoelkerung-gespalten-in-meinung-ueber-verhaeltnis-der-fpoe-zu-antisemitismus

"Should students have to visit former Nazi concentration camps as part of their political/history education ?"

62% Yes, they have to (34% strongly support, 28% somewhat support)
29% No, they don't have to (11% somewhat oppose, 18% strongly oppose)
  9% Undecided

https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20180505_OTS0001/profil-umfrage-breite-mehrheit-dafuer-dass-schueler-ehemalige-konzentrationslager-besuchen

[Tender Branson]

ÖVP-FPÖ have apparently agreed to keep the AUVA, one of Austria's current 21 healthcare/insurance providers (in their case providing work accident insurance payments and rehab measures), instead of abolishing it. The opposition parties, unions, doctors and AUVA workers have strongly opposed the abolition.

Instead, ÖVP-FPÖ will now keep the AUVA as one of 5 remaining healthcare/insurance providers after their reform. Many providers will be merged and re-named to save administrative costs. The current 9 state insurance agencies will be merged into the "Austrian Health Care Service", while the provider for self-employed will be merged with the farmers etc. etc.

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/kassenreform-auva-soll-doch-erhalten-bleiben/400035664

In other news, ÖVP-FPÖ will introduce their plan to ratify the CETA free trade treaty in their cabinet meeting tomorrow. CETA will then be ratified in parliament before summer.

That is quite surprising, because the FPÖ was always strongly opposed to these free trade treaties like CETA, TTIP, Mercosur etc. before the election and always wanted a referendum - but have flip-flopped on the issue during their coalition talks with the ÖVP.

https://kurier.at/wirtschaft/fpoe-bringt-ceta-absegnung-morgen-in-ministerrat-ein/400035778

[Tender Branson]

While Beate Meinl-Reisinger (right) will become the new liberal NEOS party leader next month, Claudia Gamon (left) will become the frontrunner for the EU elections next year (where NEOS is expected to do well):



https://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/5429922/Was-sich-unter-MeinlReisinger-bei-den-Neos-aendert

[Tender Branson]

ÖVP+FPÖ ratified the CETA free trade treaty today, with NEOS backing it as well.

The left-wing opposition of SPÖ+LiPi+Greens strongly attacked the government for it (especially the FPÖ, who flip-flopped on the issue) for putting companies and profits before people.

And indeed, on Social Media the FPÖ got hit pretty badly from their own supporters ... (but we'll need to wait and see though if they are dropping in the polls because of it).

Greenpeace activists also chained themselves to the Chancellery building, to block the entrance. The ÖVP-FPÖ government members had to use the back door (lol) for their council meeting, because police took a while to remove the chains ...





https://derstandard.at/2000079893018/Ceta-Ein-blaues-Ja-mit-Bauchweh-an-der-Basis

https://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/5430148/Ceta_GreenpeaceDemonstranten-riegelten-Kanzleramt-ab

[Tender Branson]

Final 2017 population statistics for Austria were released today:

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http://www.statistik.at/web_en/press/117063.html

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http://www.statistik.at/web_en/press/117019.html

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http://www.statistik.at/web_en/press/117065.html

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It should be noted that 2016 was a leap year, meaning that births here (which decreased by 42) actually increased in 2017 when adjusted for the missing day* ...

* 240 kids are born here every day, so it means the actual number was ca. 200 higher than in 2016.

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April 1, 2018 population results were also released: 8.830.487 (+49.389 since April 1, 2017).

Because non-EU immigration to Austria is waning off, this growth is mostly driven by an EU immigration surplus (+39.097), rather than non-EU (+14.413). Austrian citizens had a net loss of -4.121 persons during the past year.

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Using these trends, Austria will pass 9 million people for the Oct. 31, 2021 register-based Census, up from 8.4 million in the 2011 Census.

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Population changes by state:



Population changes by district (red = decline, blue = highest growth):

[Tender Branson]

ÖVP+FPÖ passed a series of school-related policies in parliament today, among them special mandatory remedial education lessons for foreigner kids, who barely speak German when arriving in the country. These kids will be put into segregated classes until their German levels are good enough to follow the native kids in their lessons.

Currently, it was often the case that foreigner kids dragged down the level of the whole class, because teachers needed to focus more on them rather than students who perform better. Classes won't be totally segregated though: there will be common P.E. or handicraft lessons for example.



The new law also includes tougher monetary penalties for parents of kids who go AWOL from school for more than 3 days.

This was a long-time FPÖ-policy wish, which they always wanted to pass into law. The FPÖ today said: "We are correcting decades of failed SPÖ- and Green immigration and integration policies, which led to kids leaving school without proper German skills followed by much lower chances for them on the labour market."

https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/oesterreich/politik/965522_Eigene-Deutsch-Foerderklassen-ab-Herbst-an-den-Schulen.html

According to a "Profil" magazine poll out today, 80% of Austrians favour the segregated German lessons for foreign kids until their German is good enough to follow the others, while only 13% are opposed.

http://orf.at/stories/2438956/2438958

[swl]

Why did the FPO agree to the CETA? If I remember well they were very strongly against it...

[TheSaint250]

Why did the FPO agree to the CETA? If I remember well they were very strongly against it...

If I had to guess, I would assume they caved due to pressure from the ÖVP or they just decided to on their own for the sake of keeping the government intact.

[Tender Branson]

Why did the FPO agree to the CETA? If I remember well they were very strongly against it...

If I had to guess, I would assume they caved due to pressure from the ÖVP or they just decided to on their own for the sake of keeping the government intact.

Because they agreed to ratify CETA in the coalition contract with the ÖVP in exchange for FPÖ policies that will be passed.