As broad swaths of the increasingly malcontented Austrian electorate throw their support behind the conservative, anti-globalist FPÖ—whom they see as the only party representing the country’s national interest—Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), whose party continues to sink in the polls, has taken aim at his rival FPÖ counterpart, claiming that an FPÖ-ÖVP coalition is off of the table so long as Kickl leads it.
In an interview with the state-run broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) said, among other things, that his party—the People’s Party, which presently trails behind the first place FPÖ by almost double digits (9%)—would not entertain the idea of a right-of-center coalition deal with the right-wing populist party, the Vienna-based newspaper Exxpress reports.
The chancellor’s words were met with a less-than-friendly response from Markus Abwerzger, the leader of the FPÖ in the western Austrian state of Tyrol, who suggested that the FPÖ would soon not even need a coalition partner if polling trends continue in the same direction witnessed over the past year and a half.
“If everything goes well, the FPÖ will garner 28 to 30%,” Abwerzger wrote on social media, adding that if the party were to increase its share of the vote by another 10%, well within the realm of possibilities for him, that the FPÖ could then “politically dispose” of Nehammer and his ÖVP.
An official from the ÖVP promptly responded to Abwerzger’s statement, specifically criticizing his use of the words “dispose of.” The official told the Austrian press that the tone and word choice “do not work,” and that such language “must not be spoken or written about a political competitor.
“Nehammer is fighting for survival within the party in view of the polls and his own weak chancellor values,” Abwerzger continued, adding that the federal ÖVP, due to its precipitous and continued decline in the polls, is in a “panic.” The ÖVP boss’s “successors are already pawing their hooves,” Abwerzger argued.
“Now he’s just trying to go ‘all in’,” underscored the FPÖ’s Tyrolean state manager.
Days later, in an interview with the Austrian television channel ZBF, Nehammer once again said that the ÖVP would not even consider a coalition agreement with the FPÖ so long as Herbert Kickl remains the party’s leader. Nehammer then went so far as to label the FPÖ’s federal chief a “security risk,” over his position on the Sky Shield Initiative. Kickl sees Austria’s participation in the initiative as at odds with the country’s historical geopolitical neutrality, which is enshrined in its constitution.
FPÖ General Secretary Christian Hafenecker reacted calmly to Nehammer’s statement, saying: “The question will not even arise, because after the expected defeat for the corruption-ridden ÖVP, Nehammer will probably also no longer be party leader and he will therefore no longer play a role in the chancellor issue.” The ÖVP traditionally has a very short half-life when it comes to its chairman, Hafenecker added, referring to the fact that the party has had three leaders in the past three years.
