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Sebastian Kurz is cheered on during his visit, and unsuccessfully appeals to the crowd, but please keep the hygienic distance. The opposition wants to file a complaint.
Joy, oh what, joy was great when Austrian Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz now visited the Kleinwalsertal in Vorarlberg. People were waving red, white and red flags, there was much applause and overcrowding for this Chancellor’s appearance, and most of the few wearing masks dropped them immediately. Sebastian Kurz smiled and marveled, and finally said, “They are a little close to each other.”
It was the chancellor’s first trip after ten weeks of Viennese crisis work in the fight against the crown virus. The excursion to the far west of Austria should also be understood as a sign that difficult times will be easier again. However, this does not change the fact that in Austria the government-prescribed distance rules down and to the side continue to apply to everyone, and in Kleinwalsertal they were largely ignored, as you can see from a video that Vorarlberger Nachrichten put on the net.
The chancellor, who can only be seen behind the plexiglass in Vienna, spoke about the missing distance several times. “We have all the time in the world,” he said after passing through the reception committee. “Please stay away,” he said, “I ask everyone to keep their distance a little, as much as possible.” The reaction to that: some loud voices.
The Chancellor’s Office finally had to stress the gravity of the situation in a statement to the Apa news agency: “Regardless of whether you meet the Chancellor or his friends on the street: the distance must be kept.” By then it was too late. Mockery and anger spread across the Internet in the unsuccessful staging, and Neos National Council member Sepp Schellhorn grimly announced an announcement: “Culture professionals, theaters and filmmakers have to strive for hygiene regulations, owners about distance regulations, and then that. “
Amidst all this noise, it was almost evident that Kurz, who was the first chancellor since Bruno Kreisky visited Kleinwalsertal in 1973, had brought good news. Finally, the nearly 5,000 residents were largely cut off from the outside world by crown-related border closings in mid-March because the only roads into the valley lead to Germany. Kurz was able to announce “some relief” and the complete removal of border controls by June 15.
Until then, however, there are still more than four weeks and the barriers are still low. The chancellor did not yet have to float from the sky. He had obtained a transit permit from the Bavarian Interior Ministry in a profane way.
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