2024-03-01 15:38:23
The Green Party’s campaign launch for the Innsbruck municipal council and mayoral direct election on April 14th resulted in a single declaration of war on the FPÖ on Friday afternoon. Mayor Georg Willi brought in Justice Minister Alma Zadic to help him in the election campaign. Both spoke of a decisive election with implications far beyond Innsbruck. One must prevent Innsbruck from being “conquered by the right” and becoming the “starting point of an authoritarian turnaround”.
Around 100 sympathizers gathered at the St. Anna’s Column in the heart of the Tyrolean capital – a singer with guitar accompaniment created a green atmosphere. Willi and Zadic formed a quasi-election tandem and worked primarily on the Freedom Party. The bourgeois opponents – starting with “the New Innsbruck” mayoral candidate Florian Tursky – were de facto left behind.
It’s about “resolutely continuing on Georg Willi’s path.” Zadic praised her party friend as “a fighter” who has achieved a lot in his term of office so far. The Tyrolean state capital is faced with a choice of direction, said the guest from Vienna: “Do we move old thinking into the town hall with the right-wing parties or do we move into a happy and progressive future with the Greens.” The “choice of directions” begins in Innsbruck and this then continues through the EU elections to the National Council elections, the minister also spanned a federal political spectrum. One must fight to ensure that “the homeland remains home” and is not conquered by the “right” or the “Orban-minded people”. In Innsbruck only a “strong Georg Willi” could ensure this.
This same person climbed the podium after Zadic – and things continued in the same tone: In Innsbruck, as everywhere else, the question was: “Do we uphold liberal democracy or do we fall into an authoritarian system,” Willi shouted to his supporters. The ideas and objectives of the FPÖ are the same everywhere – “in Vienna as in Innsbruck: weaken democracy, divide and incite people, create scapegoats, turn off independent media and enrich themselves and their friends as much as possible,” the city leader launched sharp attacks on the Freedom Party . You’re at a fork in the road: “Innsbruck, the cosmopolitan heart of the Alps. Or a heartless Innsbruck.”
It’s about whether Innsbruck will become the “starting point for an authoritarian turnaround” or whether it will remain “the flagship” that it currently is, the mayor even noted an international dimension in the local election. “From Innsbruck to the USA – in nine months our world can look completely different,” Willi tried to paint a “right-wing” scenario that was terrible for him. That’s why we have to “fight and run” in the coming weeks in order to keep the upper hand and the mayor’s office in the Tyrolean capital.
He is “the guarantor against black and blue.” The Freedom Party and the various black, conservative lists were already forging a common axis and wanted to get the official blessing for this in the election, warned Willi, who had a four-party coalition blown up in his face in Innsbruck and has been in one ever since “Free play of forces” reigned. “I make sure that there is no place in our city for right-wing extremist politics of the Kickl brand. But there is room for the people. No matter where they come from, what they believe in, who they love,” explained the Greens frontman.
In terms of content, the 64-year-old reeled off his standard program. He was able to implement a lot of things – and what was not implemented was the fault of the preventers and blockers from the black-blue corner (“Prevention is their main passion”). The tram network was expanded, 30 km/h zones were set up, 1,750 affordable apartments were handed over, the water supply was “secured for the next 100 years” and a lot was contributed to environmentally friendly movement in the city. Around 80 percent of people in Innsbruck would move around in an “environmentally friendly manner”.
Incidentally, there were also numerous officials among the Green supporters on Maria-Theresien-Strasse. For example, the club chairwoman in the National Council, Sigrid Maurer, as well as the Tyrolean National Council members Barbara Neßler and Hermann Weratschnig were present.
The Greens won around 24 percent and ten mandates as a list in the 2018 local council elections. Willi prevailed in the runoff against “For Innsbruck” mayor Christine Oppitz-Plörer and became the first Green city boss of a state capital. The party now only has seven mandates – three mandates split off after conflicts.
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