Austrian Elections & Politics 4.0

[Omega21]

Initially, the ÖVP also wanted to introduce a "clear name" (Klarnamen) law, which would mandate websites to register users only with their real names, but the FPÖ was opposed because of liberty reasons.

Something good even from a party like FPÖ.
And AFAIK such regulation is ineffective in stopping cyberbullying, or even counterproductive.

Some said the "liberty" argument from the FPÖ on the issue of clear names was only because the FPÖ deploys the biggest army of online trolls among all major parties and by blocking the new clear name law they want to protect their anonymous troll army ...

I actually had a discussion on Jodel (some sort of app mainly for students and young people) with people from Vienna about the FPÖ and ÖVP coalition.

99% think that no progress with the old Red-Black coalition was better than the situation with Black-Blue because standstill is "better than going in the wrong direction".

The constantly say that the Reds are to credit for the current economic prosperity and that when they were in power there were no weekly protests, so they are inherently better.

I tried to explain that the fact no protests were being held is due to the fact that Right Wing voters (especially ÖVP) are less likely to dedicate 1 day weekly to protest a Democratically elected government, while the young Lefties mainly don't have sh**t to do, so marching for 4 hours screaming "Down with the capital" and carrying signs of a veiled women with the words "Hand's off my sister!" is not an issue.

In summary, young people seem to think with feelings, not their head.
 

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Congratulations on having the first gay couple that came (lol, pun) out of you cabinet.
Austrian politics reminds me so much of Hamburg politics, just mirror-inverted.

[Tender Branson]

The Austrian Parliament building right now:





https://derstandard.at/2000091355494/Kranfahrt-ueber-die-Baustelle-Parlament

When renovated, it will look more like the German Bundestag - but with some of the old elements from 200-300 years ago still included. So, basically a mix of the German and the US Congress interior.

[Tender Branson]

New Ö24 poll:

34% ÖVP (+2%)
25% SPÖ (-2%)
24% FPÖ (-2%)
  6% NEOS (+1%)
  5% Greens (+1%)
  3% LiPi (-1%)
  3% Others (+1%)

EU parliament elections:

27% ÖVP (n.c.)
26% SPÖ (+2%)
24% FPÖ (+4%)
  8% NEOS (n.c.)
  7% Greens (-8%)
  3% LiPi (+3%)
  5% Others (-1%)

https://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Umfrage-SPOe-wieder-vor-der-FPOe/356156690

[Tender Branson]

The FPÖ has pulled a racist online video (called "Bad luck, Ali !"), after heavy criticism from other parties:



https://www.tt.com/politik/innenpolitik/15013369/nach-aufregung-fpoe-nimmt-rassistisches-video-vom-netz

The video shows a man called "Ali" who enters a dentist with the e-card (the Austrian electronic healthcare card that every insured Austrian has) of his cousin "Mustafa" to refurbish his teeth, but fails because the new e-cards will have tougher abuse prevention, starting next year. ÖVP-FPÖ made it harder to use the e-cards for fraud (something that virtually didn't exist anyway before).

A political scientist from Vienna has trolled the FPÖ, by posing at a dentist as "Ali with a fes and e-card from cousin Mustafa", LOL:

[Tender Branson]

Also, seen at the weekly "Thursday Protests" in Vienna (protests by left-wingers against the ÖVP-FPÖ government that Omega21 mentioned above):



"We pay taxes. We are people. We are Mustafa & Ali. We are here too."

[Omega21]

This pretty much summarizes the political climate in Vienna.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbvsGdb8Nqw

Shocking that a "Betriebsrat" intervenes in order to silence discourse. The Fascism is coming from the Left, not the Right.

Disclaimer: I don't know what the creator of the video stands for, so I do not support him.

[Tender Branson]

The Green Party has made their first major step today of returning to their old strength, after being kicked out of parliament last year by the voters.

Today, they held the first national party convention since their disaster of a defeat and Werner Kogler was re-elected with more than 99% of the delegates.



Kogler was also elected frontrunner for the EU elections and said he will serve another 2 years as party leader and then hand over to someone else. Kogler actually did a good job in re-positioning the Greens over the past year and there's now some kind of Aufbruchstimmung (start-up feeling) among the base and even polling suggests that support is slowly coming back to the Greens.

5 deputies for Kogler were also elected (all of them new, and young) and one of them will most likely succeed him in 2 years. 3 of the 5 deputy party leaders are women.



Ewa Dziedzic, Rudi Hemetsberger, Werner Kogler, Nina Tomaselli, Lara Köck & Stefan Kaineder.

https://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/5531688/Der-WoohooEffekt-bei-den-Gruenen

https://derstandard.at/2000091598400/Kogler-mit-99-Prozent-zu-neuem-Gruenen-Chef-gewaehlt

[Tender Branson]

A new "Profil" magazine poll out today (Austrians aged 16+, Nov. 12-16, n=800, MoE: +/-3.5%):

35% ÖVP (+3.5)
24% FPÖ (-2.0)
24% SPÖ (-2.9)
  9% NEOS (+3.7)
  5% Greens (+1.2)
  2% LiPi (-2.4)
  1% Others (-1.1)

Best results in a long time for the ÖVP and NEOS. Worst results so far for the SPÖ.

Chancellor vote:

41% Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP-Incumbent)
16% Pamela Rendi-Wagner (SPÖ)
13% H.C. Strache (FPÖ)

64% of Austrian voters say that they "don't know yet what Pamela Rendi-Wagner stands for on the issues" and 72% also say that "the SPÖ has long lost their former voter base".

https://www.profil.at/oesterreich/umfrage-kurz-kanzlerfrage-strache-rendi-wagner-10470801

[Former President tack50]

Also, seen at the weekly "Thursday Protests" in Vienna (protests by left-wingers against the ÖVP-FPÖ government that Omega21 mentioned above):



"We pay taxes. We are people. We are Mustafa & Ali. We are here too."

My German is very far from perfect, but wouldn't that be written something like "Wir zahlen Steuern, wir sind Menschen, wir sind Mustafa & Ali, wir sind hier auch" instead?

[Tender Branson]

My German is very far from perfect, but wouldn't that be written something like "Wir zahlen Steuern, Wir sind Menschen, Wir sind Mustafa & Ali, Wir sind auch hier." instead?

Nope.

It's written in Austrian-German. What you mean is Standard/High-German.

[Tender Branson]

More from the new Ö24 poll:



Which party is doing the better government work ? 67% ÖVP vs. 33% FPÖ

Who is more assertive in the government ? 61% Kurz vs. 39% Strache

Do you support Austria's exit from the UN migration pact ? 62-38 support

Do you support or oppose the planned welfare cuts for immigrants ? 71-29 support

[Tender Branson]

The Austrian metal worker union and the employer side are in the final talks about the new wages for 2019.

Traditionally, the metal union is the first to start the collective bargaining talks as part of the social partnership and all other branches follow later on.

This time, the talks between the union and the employer representatives have been extremely nasty and dragged-out so far. The metal unionists want a pay rise of at least 5% for 2019 and an additional 6th week off from work. The employer side called the demands "overblown" and offered a 2.5% pay rise and no additional vacation.

Inflation was 2.2% during the past year, so their offer would be above inflation - but productivity gains are up more than 5% compared within the past year (the industrial sector in Austria is booming right now).



As I'm part of the metal sector myself, I of course support the union side in the bargaining talks and want at least a 3.5-4% increase in wages next year to reflect productivity gains over the last year. Meanwhile, several companies have already seen their staff strike for a few hours to increase the pressure on the employer side. A conclusion of the talks could come tonight.

In a new OGM poll for the "Kurier", 51% of Austrians support the union demands while 39% support the employer side. Interestingly, many FPÖ-voters support the union side here because many of their voters are blue-collar workers.

https://kurier.at/wirtschaft/metaller-kv-die-zeichen-stehen-auf-abschluss/400327983

[Tender Branson]

In a modest blow to his coalition partner FPÖ, Chancellor Kurz invited and met with George Soros today at the Chancellor Office in Vienna to talk about the re-settlement of the CEU from Budapest to Vienna and other topics:

https://derstandard.at/2000091665621/Kanzler-Kurz-empfing-Milliardaer-George-Soros

[Omega21]

In a modest blow to his coalition partner FPÖ, Chancellor Kurz invited and met with George Soros today at the Chancellor Office in Vienna to talk about the re-settlement of the CEU from Budapest to Vienna and other topics:

https://derstandard.at/2000091665621/Kanzler-Kurz-empfing-Milliardaer-George-Soros

Great, more Gender studies, just what we need!

[Tender Branson]

The List Pilz has a new name:

„Jetzt“

In English: „Now.“

LOL.

... and for this they hired a PR agency who worked out the new name for months.

https://derstandard.at/2000091708846/Liste-Pilz-heisst-jetzt-Jetzt

[Omega21]

The government is also most likely implementing a law that will forbid Children under 10 years old from wearing a Hijab in Schools. Strache also says that an "extension" to kids under 12 could be discussed.

https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20181117_OTS0028/strache-in-oesterreich-kopftuchverbot-in-volksschule

Naturally, the SPÖ reacted with opposition, but who really cares, they lost the elections for a reason.

https://www.krone.at/1811541

[Tender Branson]

The government is also most likely implementing a law that will forbid Children under 10 years old from wearing a Hijab in Schools. Strache also says that an "extension" to kids under 12 could be discussed.

https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20181117_OTS0028/strache-in-oesterreich-kopftuchverbot-in-volksschule

Naturally, the SPÖ reacted with opposition, but who really cares, they lost the elections for a reason.

https://www.krone.at/1811541

ÖVP-FPÖ have already passed the headscarf ban for kindergarten kids into law and now prensented their new bill yesterday in parliament, extending it to primary schools.

But because school law is constitutional law, they need either SPÖ or NEOS to reach the 2/3 majority.

SPÖ and NEOS are not against banning schoolchildren from wearing headscarves, they only want a better "package", including better integration measures. In fact, both parties even want a full ban for all kids until the age of 14 to protect them from religious pressure until they are old enough to decide on their own, as part of a comprehensive package. But ÖVP-FPÖ only want the ban and nothing else.

So, ÖVP-FPÖ today said they will still pass their measure in parliament themselves without the votes of SPÖ and NEOS, making it a regular non-constitutional law (which could then be struck down more easily by a court, if someone challenges it).

https://derstandard.at/2000092037640/FPOe-prueft-Ausweitung-des-Kopftuchverbots

[Tender Branson]

In a setback for ÖVP-FPÖ, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has struck down the welfare cuts for refugees, because refugees need to get the same level of welfare payments as Austrians:

https://www.dw.com/en/eu-top-court-rules-against-austrian-curbs-on-refugee-rights/a-46390393

Horrible, naive ultra-leftist ruling.

Immigrants who have never paid into the system in Austria should not get the same. They should get a roof over their head, food and other stuff for daily life - but no additional monetary payments ! The state can set a quota for immigration, immigrants need to adapt and integrate and work their way up and only then claim any welfare payments !

[Tender Branson]

For those who are interested:

There's a new biography out called "H.C. Strache: From rebel to statesman."



https://www.amazon.com/HC-Strache-Rebell-Staatsmann-German-ebook/dp/B07KRDJ4T7

[Tender Branson]

Strache has created controversy with a Facebook post yesterday:

„Thanks to a protest by the district FPÖ, the Christmas market in Vienna‘s Favoriten district now has traditional wooden cabins again, instead of looking like a Muslim tent city.“

[Tender Branson]

Pamela Rendi-Wagner will be officially elected new SPÖ-leader this weekend at a party convention in Wels and will become their first female leader ever.

So far, so good.

On the other hand, it's currently 1 step forward for the SPÖ and 2 steps back.

The party simply doesn't get out of the negative headlines, despite Rendi-Wagner trying to do so.

Just a few days ago, the leader of the Tyrol-SPÖ Elisabeth Blanik stepped down. Her successor, Georg Dornauer, started disgracefully as their new leader: On the first day, he made a sexist comment about the Tyrol state government member from the Greens, Gabriele Fischer, who was absent from parliament because she was sick.



Dornauer and Rendi-Wagner

The SPÖ-women branch of the party called for his resignation, he refused and the (male) SPÖ-governors are also backing him, saying he apologized quickly and the case is settled.

On the other hand, there was another sexism comment involving the ÖVP recently and their MP had to resign because of it, so the ÖVP and FPÖ are now using it to attack the SPÖ on it.



Fischer

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/auftakt-fuer-dreitaegigen-spoe-reigen-rendi-wagner-bei-frauenkonferenz/400332999

[Tender Branson]

Thinking about the 2022 general election, there could be an all-female opposition quartette to challenge the Kurz/Strache government:

SPÖ, NEOS and NOW.



+ the Greens, where Werner Kogler will step down in 2 years after reforming the party and the likely successor will also be female again.

Assuming all of these women are still in charge by election time 2022 ...

[Tender Branson]

The national SPÖ convention to elect Pamela Rendi-Wagner as their first female leader is on the way and she just finished her speech.

From what I have read she attacked the Kurz-ÖVP and Strache-FPÖ as "fake" and "cold", "anti-social" and "hostile" to the working-class and children of the country.



She repeatedly called Chancellor Sebastian Kurz with the informal "Du", instead of the formal "Sie".

At one point she shouted to the delegates: "Sebastian, you have been 7 years in the Austrian government, but what did you actually do ?"

Thunderous applause from the SPÖ-delegates.

https://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/5535637/SPOeParteitag_Lieber-Sebastian-was-hast-du-eigentlich-gemacht

[Tender Branson]

If even the SPÖ-critical tabloid "Ö24" calls her speech "amazing", you know that she did a good job at the convention: