Dankl: "There are more Putin friends at OMV or in the WKO than in the KPÖ"

2023-04-25 09:06:00

A result that surprised many on Sunday: the KPÖ’s support fell at 11.7 percent – which corresponds to an increase of 11.3 percentage points compared to the result of 2018. In the state capital, top candidate Kay-Michael Dankl is ahead of ÖVP Governor Wilfried Haslauer (5594 preferential votes) with 6355 preferential votes. However, Haslauer rules out a coalition.

That doesn’t seem to affect Dankl, who is celebrated as a political high-flyer in conservative Salzburg. He doesn’t want to be in government anyway. In an interview with Martin Thür the day after the election earthquake on Sunday, the 34-year-old was focused, clear and clear in his standpoints. He explained that a critical counterpart was needed in the opposition who would remind the major parties of their political promises. Because there were many promises in this and the previous election campaigns, especially with regard to manageable housing or mobility. However, hardly any of this happened. “There will be a race to the bottom as to which party is the cheapest,” and he was realistic enough not to take part. “We are not on the side of the investors, but on the side of the broad majority who can no longer afford the housing costs.”

“Didn’t show up three weeks before the election”

In any case, the election success surprised him. “It’s a huge responsibility, it won’t be easy.” However, he does not consider the popularity in the city of Salzburg to be a coincidence. The KPÖ Plus has been in the city parliament there for four years: “We didn’t show up just three weeks before the election.”

“How communist are you actually?” asks Thür. Can you still proudly call yourself a communist in 2023, he wants to know, when it’s about a system that has systematically suppressed free opinions and in which people have had to starve? Of course you can make something bad out of good ideas, counters Dankl and mentions the efforts in the 19th century to improve the living conditions of workers. Nobody today accuses the Catholic Church of the Inquisition. The KPÖ Plus has “nothing at all to do with dictatorships”. With her topics such as affordable housing, she even campaigns for more democracy. “We believe that a better world is possible where wealth is better shared.” And: “We are critical of capitalism when it comes to basic needs.” The profit less should not be in the foreground here.

No exit from the EU

When asked about the federal party’s position critical of the EU, Dankl clearly distanced himself: he firmly rejected leaving the European Union. “You can see where such an exit leads in England.” After Brexit, the country is going “down the drain” in many areas. But: “The EU should be designed differently, less neoliberally.” Everything is regulated, but there are no minimum social standards. There are very strong tendencies to promote the position of large companies or banks. “The EU must become more social and democratic.”

Dankl also pushed forward in the position of the KPÖ regarding the Russian war of aggression in the Ukraine. He clearly contradicts his federal party colleague Werner Murgg, KPÖ member of parliament in Styria, who, for example, described Ukraine as a “cripple nation” and celebrated the independence of a “people’s republic” of Donetsk. Such positions would have no place in the Salzburg KPÖ. In any case, Murgg’s position was only “a minority opinion” within the KPÖ. Rather, one must advocate how the civilian population in authoritarian regimes can be helped in the attempt to democratize these countries. You have to think about how you can make a contribution even as a neutral country like Austria. “I often have the feeling that people in Austria say they are neutral and simply do business with all sides.” If you look for Putin fans or friends of the Russian regime in Austria, you would “probably find more at OMV or maybe in the Economic Chamber than in the KPÖ”.