Austrian Elections & Politics 5.0 (Burgenland state election - January 26)

[Middle-aged Europe]

Former BND Director (German CIA) commented on the recent events.

"Offenkundig wird hier versucht, Wahlen zu manipulieren"

"Obviously this is an attempt to manipulate elections"

https://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/videos/politik/Offenkundig-wird-hier-versucht-Wahlen-zu-manipulieren-article21035713.html?fbclid=IwAR15IfgFkKnR1XiTG2WzboPtXv4WD7XlUUZ03Iuvy5EAh0xFm4REucZp6qs

There were also attempts to manipulate the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Brexit referendum, albeit in favour of the right-wing populists. What happened now is that someone took "both sides do it" quite literally and brought it to its logical conclusion: Information warfare.

[Keep Calm and ...]

As it was outlined by Kurz himself on Saturday, this was more of "the straw that broke the camel's back" moment for the FPÖ. Nevertheless, I'm still astonished at the speed this government is self-destructing now. Unless they reform radically and quickly the FPÖ will probably barred from power for quite some time now, and as far as the ÖVP is concerned it's still somewhat unclear whether they will mainly benefit from this or whether they will be consumed by it as well.

There's no reason why they would suffer, they bear no responsibility for something someone not in their party did before he held any Government office.

Btw. do you have 2 profiles now? I remember seeing the same name just on a newer profile

Sorry, that's me.
I'm new here. Since I was reading for a long time I created a profil last year. Actually I want to choose a unique name and don't want to confuse anybody.
Now I renamed my display name and created a signature to make it clearer that Ye Olde Europe and me are two different Users.

[Tender Branson]

Update:

A vote of no-confidence against Kurz has been set for Monday. JETZT/NOW will introduce the vote, but NEOS will vote against (out of stability reasons). It is unclear what the SPÖ will do. In the morning, the FPÖ said they will back it, now everything is unsure again.

President VdB today dismissed all FPÖ cabinet members except Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl (an Independent presented by the FPÖ). She has said she would like to continue over the next months and VdB accepted.

Kurz will name independent experts for the void FPÖ cabinet positions tonight and present the names to VdB.

VdB will speak to the nation at around 7:45pm and could swear in the new cabinet members tomorrow after briefly meeting with them.

[Tender Branson]

Eckart Ratz, former Supreme Court of Justice President, will follow Kickl and become the new Interior Minister:

[Tender Branson]

The 1999 Vengaboys song „Going to Ibiza“ has reached #1 in the Austrian charts:

https://twitter.com/evanoconnell/status/1130355231282421760

(In their original video btw, you can see Monica Lewinsky giving a blowjob to Bill Clinton, in the Capitol, not in the White House ... )

[Boobs]

The next PM will clearly be Donna Shalala (Lala).

[Tender Branson]

Philippa Strache has abandoned her husband and moved back in with her parents and their newborn son Hendrik:

https://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Philippa-Strache-ist-mit-Kind-ausgezogen/381024623

[Middle-aged Europe]

Philippa Strache has abandoned her husband and moved back in with her parents and their newborn son Hendrik:

https://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Philippa-Strache-ist-mit-Kind-ausgezogen/381024623

#Cuck

[Omega21]

Philippa Strache has abandoned her husband and moved back in with her parents and their newborn son Hendrik:

https://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Philippa-Strache-ist-mit-Kind-ausgezogen/381024623

#Cuck

C'mon now, let's not just insult people...

[Tender Branson]

President Van der Bellen's primetime speech to the nation did not yet provide the names for the interim government, but focused more on morals.

He said that people should not lose trust in politics in disgust, that the 2 people involved in Ibiza-Gate are the exception and not the norm and encouraged people to vote in the EU election on Sunday.

He also urged politicians from all parties to be careful over the next few days and weeks and put their own party interests below the interest of citizens ("stability") and the country and its reputation abroad.

He closed with a Merkel-like: "Wir schaffen das !"

[Tender Branson]

Valerie Hackl is likely to become the new Infrastructure Minister, succeeding Norbert Hofer.

Hackl is a former ÖBB (railway) manager, apppointed by former SPÖ-Chancellor Christian Kern, now working for Austro Control (the air navigation services provider that controls Austrian airspace).

[Tender Branson]

Johann Luif likely to become the new Defense Minister:



Luif is SPÖ-affiliated.

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/neue-kurz-regierung-wird-schwarz-rot/400501456

Good chess game by Kurz. With those interim appointments it is likely that he will survive the no-confidence vote in parliament on Monday.

[Tender Branson]

ÖVP-NEOS-Greens or ÖVP-Greens-NEOS ("Dirndl", or "Watermelon"-Coalition) would actually be my preferred government, ideologically.

I think the fall election will be a structural one: Currently, about 70% of Austrians think that economically they are well off. That is the highest number since pollster SPECTRA started their quarterly polling on this topic. Not surprising after GDP growth rates of 3% or so over the past 2 years.

During times of good economy, voters tend to vote more for bourgeois parties like the ÖVP, NEOS and Greens and less for working-class parties such as the SPÖ or FPÖ (now even less so).

I think a majority of ÖVP-NEOS-Greens is fairly likely, in the 55% range or something.

[Tender Branson]

Walter Pöltner, another SPÖ-member and former Health Ministry official, to become the new Social Minister:



If Kurz really has picked 3 SPÖ-affiliated people as new cabinet members, I think the SPÖ will drop their no-confidence threat against him. But who knows ?

[President Johnson]

What happens if there is a motion of no confidence? In Germany, it works only if the Bundestag elects a new chancellor (a lesson taken from the Weimar Republic). I'm not sure it makes any sense to vote Kurz out of the chancellorship right now. Let him continue with a minority government/technocrat cabinet and wait until the new election plays out.

[Tender Branson]

What happens if there is a motion of no confidence?

Kurz resigns as Chancellor and President VdB appoints a new interim Chancellor of his choosing until the new government is sworn in (in ca. 6 months).

[Simfan34]

President VdB today dismissed all FPÖ cabinet members except Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl (an Independent presented by the FPÖ). She has said she would like to continue over the next months and VdB accepted.

Wait, so the woman who had Putin show up at her wedding is the only FPÖ member who gets to stay in Cabinet following a scandal in which her party leader was caught attempting to collude with Russian interests?

[Tender Branson]

President VdB today dismissed all FPÖ cabinet members except Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl (an Independent presented by the FPÖ). She has said she would like to continue over the next months and VdB accepted.

Wait, so the woman who had Putin show up at her wedding is the only FPÖ member who gets to stay in Cabinet following a scandal in which her party leader was caught attempting to collude with Russian interests?

To be fair: Karin Kneissl is not an FPÖ-member, but an Independent diplomat who speaks like 8 different languages and has lived in the Middle-East for years (the FPÖ appointed her as Foreign Minister). Kneissl invited Putin to her wedding yes, and he accepted and came and they danced together (she said it was good manners).

[pilskonzept]

President VdB today dismissed all FPÖ cabinet members except Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl (an Independent presented by the FPÖ). She has said she would like to continue over the next months and VdB accepted.

Wait, so the woman who had Putin show up at her wedding is the only FPÖ member who gets to stay in Cabinet following a scandal in which her party leader was caught attempting to collude with Russian interests?

To be fair: Karin Kneissl is not an FPÖ-member, but an Independent diplomat who speaks like 8 different languages and has lived in the Middle-East for years (the FPÖ appointed her as Foreign Minister). Kneissl invited Putin to her wedding yes, and he accepted and came and they danced together (she said it was good manners).

"Well, Vladimir, feel free to to business with us. Just keep away from the shady folks, please."

Doesn't exactly fit with vdB's center-left reputation, though.

[Tender Branson]

President Van der Bellen will meet with the new cabinet members today for a brief overview and a little talk with them about their qualifications and then swear them in.

We'll see if something else happens today or not, but it would be nice if things were to focus more on the EU election on Sunday again ...

[rob in cal]

  Also, its not as if the other FPO cabinet member were forced out. They resigned to protest the dismissal of Kickl.

[Beezer]

What I wanna know is...why is the "v" in "Van der Bellen" capitalized?

[Tender Branson]

The new cabinet was sworn in today by President Van der Bellen and after that a cabinet council meeting took place.

The interim cabinet has only 14 instead of 16 members, as Strache‘s agendas (Sports and Civil Servants) have gone to Bogner-Strauß and State Secretary Fuchs was not replaced. Now there are 8 men and 6 women vs. 10-6 before. Finance Minister Löger did become the new Vice-Chancellor.

Norbert Hofer was not only chosen as interim FPÖ leader, but also as frontrunner for the September election, they said today.

[Tender Branson]

Does a lawyer from Vienna and a detective from Munich have something to do with the Ibiza trap ?

https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/oesterreich-heisse-spur-im-ibiza-beben-war-es-dieser-anwalt-62095558.bild.html

[Tender Branson]

Nina Tomaselli likely to lead the Greens into the election and probably back into parliament.

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/nina-tomaselli-als-gruenen-spitzenkandidatin-im-gespraech/400502236