In her speech to the delegates at the Federal Congress in Graz, she once again positioned herself as a candidate “for the climate and against the right”. Federal spokesman and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler warned against “Putin friends” who questioned the united Europe.
Schilling received 252 of 261 valid votes, counted manually because the electronic voting system went on strike. She gratefully accepted the election and promised to be “loud, courageous and a bit cheeky”. She had previously emphasized in her introductory speech that she wasn’t taking the step into politics just now, because as an activist with “Fridays for Future” and with “Lobau Stays” she had already acted in the same way, just from the street.
“Every citizens’ initiative, every protest – all of that is also politics. And that’s exactly where I come from – from civil society, from the climate movement. And I would like to represent this more strongly in the European Parliament,” explained Schilling. She argued her candidacy that the Greens were the only party that could be relied on for climate protection.
Climate catastrophe “historic challenge”
The climate catastrophe is “a historic challenge,” said Schilling. For example, we are currently living in the greatest extinction of species since the age of dinosaurs. She called the fact that Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) had illustrated the part on mobility in his plan for Austria with a four-lane highway “crazy cynical”. But the climate question is also “the social question of our time”. She was convinced that the EU Parliament was in the right place to make groundbreaking decisions.
Schilling identified the right as the second threat that needed to be countered. FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl was talking about wanted lists on which he wanted to write political opponents, and she wondered where that would lead – would they be silenced, locked up or taken out of the country, Schilling asked. For years people had been saying “never again” and now things were getting serious, said Schilling. We had to defend ourselves and be loud. Because Kickl, “his friends in the AfD and his comrades in the Identitarians” threatened the common Europe. The speech was obviously well received by the delegates, as Schilling received a standing ovation and much applause.
“Direction decision between the right-wing extremists and the Greens”
“It is a directional decision this year between the right-wing extremists and the Greens,” said Kogler previously with regard to the elections at EU, federal and state level in Styria. On the other side, in addition to right-wing extremists and right-wing populists, there is also – when it comes to climate protection – the “strange old thinking” of a “reform-resistant blockade elite”.
On the occasion of the second anniversary of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Kogler wrapped himself in a blue and yellow flag to much applause and in one move managed to reject Putin’s “blue brothers” as well as those KPÖ mandates from the Styrian state parliament, who had themselves photographed with his henchmen in the occupied regions of eastern Ukraine. He also took aim at the Freedom Party’s love for the regime in Hungary. “Comes Kickl, comes Orbanistan, comes decline,” he said and again spoke of a “mafia state.”
The two key motions were accepted, one on “climate happiness” and a second against right-wing extremist threats to democracy and European unity. The afternoon is dedicated to places two to six on the list.
Greens want to hold 3 EU mandates
The Greens want to keep their three previous mandates in the EU elections. In 2019 they achieved 14.08 percent of the vote. Sarah Wiener, a prominent career changer in the last election, is not running again, as is long-time representative Monika Vana. The latter in particular was a tearful farewell. Kogler, the green EU driving force in 2019, is this time concentrating entirely on the National Council elections in the fall.
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