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“Something new does not always have to be good and old does not always have to be bad”: With these words the former mayor of Vienna Michael Häupl (SP) recently broke a spear for the red-green coalition that he forged ten years ago in Vienna and with it your vote to stop commenting on politics.
Häupl’s compromise was useless. His successor, Michael Ludwig, announced yesterday after meetings of the state party executive and the presidium that coalition negotiations would begin with the Neos.
Like Häupl once with the Greens in 2010, Ludwig would make history with him: Red-Pink would be the first social-liberal coalition in Austria. It was precisely this argument that Ludwig introduced at the meeting: “We did not decide against a party, but on a brave new path.” He wanted to “open the door to a progressive coalition,” Ludwig said. His potential partner, Vienna’s Neos boss Christoph Wiederkehr, made no secret of his joy and took the ball: “Vienna needs a reform coalition,” he promoted for Red-Pink.
- Video: The “green doors remain open”
The greens still wait
For the Greens it is a severe blow: they had campaigned intensely for Ludwig and consequently Deputy Mayor Birgit Hebein was disappointed. “We have achieved a lot in recent years” and the decision “was not pleasant.” Hebein doesn’t want to give up hope yet: if the negotiations fail, “our doors are open.”
Of course, red and pink already tried to find common ground yesterday. In the exploratory discussion, there were many overlaps, it was said on both sides. In fact, there were also parallels in the priorities mentioned by Ludwig and Wiederkehr: in addition to coping with the corona pandemic and supporting the economy, the focus was on education and climate protection. The measures had already shown great differences during the electoral campaign. Ludwig immediately rejected the pink desire for privatization: “This is not the phase where privatization is in the foreground”, especially in times of crisis, “good services of general interest” are important, he campaigned for urban housing and medical care.
He did not want to reject Wiederkehr’s wish for the education department from the beginning: “That will be a matter of negotiation, you have to allow the coalition partner to take responsibility in an area that is important to him.” At the same time, Ludwig pointed out the balance of power: “The SPÖ is twice as strong as the ÖVP, three times as strong as the Greens and six times as strong as the Neos.” Wiederkehr did not want to be intimidated by this: “I want all Viennese schoolchildren to also know how to do arithmetic”, he stopped and assured “that you can do something even being a little companion.
The ÖVP “was not surprised” by Ludwig’s move.
Negotiations are proceeding rapidly and the rose-red should be ready for signature by mid-November.
the initial situation
In the municipal council election on October 11, the SPÖ not only increased its 2015 election results, but also increased its number of council seats, with 41.6 percent of the vote. The SPÖ will have 46 members in the future. The Neos have also grown up and have eight terms. Therefore, Red-Pink would have a majority of 54 seats out of 100 on the local council.
Red-Green would get 62 mandates, the Greens achieved their best result in Vienna with 14.8 percent. The ÖVP made the leap above the 20 percent mark (20.4). With him, the SPÖ would have the clearest majority: 68 seats.
For the Neos, participation in the government, eight years after its founding, would be only the second in Austria. In Salzburg they are part of the state government together with the ÖVP and the Greens since 2018.
Article of
Citizen Jasmine
National Policy Editor
