TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG, leading article: "Last exit from the Chancellery", by Michael Sprenger

Issued on Thursday, March 16, 2023

Innsbruck (OTS) – The power struggle in the SPÖ could result in a substantive debate that the party has miserably failed to do in the past. If she misses this chance, she can say goodbye to her election goal.

What the SPÖ is really good at is intrigue. A dispute over people has been raging for months. Who can do it better? With which top candidate does the SPÖ manage to return to the Chancellery?
But the question of how the party should reposition itself in times of climate change, radical upheavals in the world of work, burgeoning nationalism and crisis-prone globalization is not even asked. why? As long as old cliques perfect their craft in securing their power within the party, there is no need to think outside the box. Nor was it ever about promoting a competition for better content. Why then? The SPÖ is and has always been on the right side. And turquoise-blue and turquoise-green showed that you are the better chancellor party.
With such a stagnation, it is little wonder that in many federal states, more and more ground has been lost. In Upper Austria, Tyrol and Lower Austria they were overtaken by the FPÖ, the recapture of the provincial governor’s chair in Salzburg and Styria is currently not even an option for optimists.
So the principle of intrigue was optimized in the meantime. At the climax of this critical escalation in the leadership issue between chairwoman Pamela Rendi-Wagner and her adversary Hans Peter Doskozil, the party leaders now agreed on a member survey in combination with a party congress to clarify the question of the chairmanship.
As bitter as it may sound for the Social Democrats: This way out, found in times of need, could even be a guide to lead the party to a pre-election campaign. But what would be necessary for this: to finally end the intrigues on all sides and to face a programmatic competition. No more fidgeting in the back room, but instead looking for productive arguments about the answers to upcoming questions about the future. And yes, one should say openly which side wants to fight the election campaign with which team, and who is able to rejuvenate the party. Not only involving the party members in this process, but also letting them decide is a lot, but not a sign of weakness.
If the party misses this “last exit from the Chancellery”, they can already practice the words they want to use to congratulate the FPÖ and the ÖVP on their electoral success. Then she can concentrate on the intrigues again at the same time.