At a “small party conference” in Wieselburg, the personnel proposal was approved by party leader Andreas Babler. The top candidate himself achieved the weakest result of the top 12 with 89.6 percent. In his speech he stated that he wanted to “set a historic course for our generation” and “do everything to protect the Republic of Austria from authoritarian approaches.”
294 of 356 delegates came to the Federal Party Council at the Wieselburg Trade Fair, as did many guests. With the exception of Burgenland Governor Hans Peter Doskozil, the party’s celebrities were represented.
Hardly anyone will have missed the fact that the motto of the event was “With heart and brain for Austria”. Not only was a heart integrated into the “Ö” in the party name, Babler also emphasized a dozen times that heart and brain were the basis of his politics. He wants to turn the SPÖ from a “steam locomotive into a railjet”.
In the good hour of his speech, which was delivered in a staccato manner as usual, Babler primarily outlined the ideas that the party had developed together with the expert council he had set up. The SPÖ chairman emphasized that the party was always strongest when it accepted expertise from outside.
Hardly any topic area was left out
The individual projects had already been disseminated piecemeal in the media in advance, but now Babler didn’t miss the opportunity to present them all together. Hardly any topic area was left out, not even those in which social democracy is traditionally less at home. Babler promised improved conditions for small farmers, called for the abolition of deductibles for the self-employed and assured small and medium-sized businesses of his support.
It was not unexpected that the SPÖ leader declared war on big business, as there are more private foundations than football clubs in Austria. There will be no tolerance for “tax robbers”. When it comes to reducing working hours, Babler wants to organize pilot tests through the social partners that would prove that the four-day week works.
The SPÖ chairman wants 4,000 additional police officers and with better working conditions, as the executive employees would have a “murderer job”. Babler described violence against women as a “men’s problem”. Entry bans should be enforced using ankle bracelets.
Austria should become a “children’s rights republic”.
The SP leader received particularly long applause for his call to make Austria a “children’s rights republic”. For him, the daily hot meal at schools is the “textbook campaign” of today. He is also concerned about greater animal welfare and the fight against global warming should be given top priority. When it comes to asylum and refugee policy, he insisted on reintroducing the integration year.
Babler also addressed older citizens directly: “The right to an analogue life has to do with respect for older people.” Boys between 16 and 30 should be offered an alternative to fake news through subscriptions to quality media.
Ideas should speak for SPÖ
Basically, Babler emphasized that he wanted to get out of badmouthing and instead let the ideas speak for the SPÖ. Of course, that didn’t stop the party leader from warning in detail about a government led by the Freedom Party and the ÖVP. He attested to decadence and arrogance, aloofness, heartlessness and lack of empathy on this side of the political spectrum.
It was no problem getting approval for the federal list. He saw the fact that Babler missed the 90 percent in the context of the fact that the personnel decisions had only been made the day before and that there might still be disappointment here and there. Club boss Philip Kucher achieved the best result of the top 12 with 99 percent. All other eligible candidates also received approval of over 90 percent.
Second National Council President Doris Bures came in second behind Babler, followed by FSG boss Josef Muchitsch and women’s chairman Eva Maria Holzleitner. In addition to Kucher, the club’s deputy chairwoman Julia Herr, pro-ge unionist Reinhold Binder and Salzburg MP Michaela Schmidt can also have legitimate hopes for a mandate. The head of the Socialist Youth Paul Stich and the chairman of the red LGBTIQ* organization SoHo Mario Lindner were placed on combat mandates.
