Just off the highway near St. Pölten, the Greens put up an election poster with the slogan “Choose Climate” on Monday morning, thus starting the intense phase of the election campaign. The wind turbines are turning in reverse. Looking back on the summer with higher temperatures, the president of the club Green Lower Austria, Helga Krismer, has reason to emphasize that it is “almost a blessing when it is finally raining a few drops in Lower Austria”.
The coalition with the ÖVP in the federal government had weakened in recent months, mainly because of the renewal law. Green Party spokeswoman Helga Krismer criticizes the state governor: “You have to be careful that the ‘concrete state governor’ Johanna Mikl-Leitner does not harden over the last natural square meter of land.”
“Kickl thinks he can be Chancellor”
The Green Party poster is not the only one on the freeway exit on the east side of St. Pölten. Next door, an ÖVP election poster advertises “Stability for Austria”, while an FPÖ motif reads “Together Chancellor”. For the Greens, these are a “wonderful promise” of “quick fixes” that may be embarrassing, but could cost people dearly in the long run. The chairman of the club predicts “a shorter life with less success” – especially with the president of the liberal party: “Kickl thinks he can be Chancellor.”
“There is no climate protection without the economy”
Götze has been traveling around the country in recent weeks to talk about the “green successes” in government. “The climate ticket, the significant reduction of CO2 and the reform of eco-social taxes are just three of the green achievements that we have been able to achieve in recent years,” affirms the spokesperson of the Green industry, which does not see economic efficiency in conflict with climate protection: “The companies want to clear the framework conditions, they want energy independence and we want to expand green jobs in Austria. .”
The Greens’ 2019 result of 13.9 per cent was the party’s previous highest result. Now Götze hopes to at least be able to keep this up throughout Austria, if not overtake him. Both rule out a coalition with the FPÖ, but not a three-party coalition with the ÖVP and the Social Democrats.
