In the evening, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen will address the population. “Today” presents in advance what the head of state has to say.
“Today” learned in advance what the head of state had to say. In speech, he invokes cohesion in society. Van der Bellen emphasizes how difficult the situation has been and still is for each of us. The “medicine” that we would swallow was bitter.
The said medicine are “isolation, restriction of personal rights, extensive standstill of our cultural life and our economy”. Even if you still have to be careful, you can be “cautiously optimistic, because the medicine works”, Van der Bellen is certain.
Criticism and confidence
Nevertheless, there are also many uncertainties. So you don’t know when the pandemic will end, what tomorrow will bring and when there will be an effective vaccine or what our life after Corona will look like.
At the same time, the President highlights the certainties we have. Van der Bellen, for example, names “our community, our cohesion” as central points from which the country should “gain confidence”.
The head of state also takes today’s speech as an occasion to make critical notes. The importance of the crisis for society will only be recognized in the future.
Nevertheless, Van der Bellen is convinced that “this was also the time when populist leaders lost their luster because their recipes that were too simple are not suitable for complex reality”.
The crisis lay in the chance to overcome unemployment and to create the transition to a sustainable economy. “With nature, not against it. For a healthy climate”, says “VdB”.
The reconstruction will succeed, said Van der Bellen. Because that has been achieved several times in the past. Finally, the Federal President quotes a line from the Austrian national anthem “Courageous in the new times, free and faithful see us stride. Happy and hopeful”.
