Tirade against the right

Kogler on Kickl: “Grumbling poisoning”

Green Party leader Kogler finds unflattering words about FPÖ leader Kickl and his "Putin brothers".(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

Green Party leader Werner Kogler is optimistic ahead of the EU elections. The designated top candidate Lena Schilling is "the best choice" and the goal for June 9 is to hold on to the three mandates. He lashed out at the "right-wing threats to European unification".

The fact that the 23-year-old eco-activist Schilling is to be elected first on the list at the Green national congress in Graz on Saturday is "great news" for climate protection and young people. With her, the Greens could take the offensive even in difficult times. "She mobilizes within the Greens, but also externally", there is "sensational feedback".

Constructive forces needed
Kogler contrasted the "whining" of the European right-wing populists and extremists, who are "only interested in problems rather than solutions", with the "constructive European forces". The Greens could provide guidance on how environmental and climate protection could be reconciled with the economy and social security. The aim was to develop European industry "into something big green" and to continue to fulfill people's justified longing for intact nature.

Green Party leader Sigrid Maurer in the "Rainer Nowak Talk" on krone.tv about the Greens in government, the "challenging" relationship with the ÖVP and the possibilities after the upcoming National Council elections:

Kogler sees enough alliance partners to make this viable for a majority: "I'm still looking at whether the Social Democrats and the Conservatives can still afford this and say they don't give a damn about nature." He also includes the Liberals in this.

"Without the EU billions, Hungary would have been completely sanded up"
On the other hand, there are "those who endanger European unification" and attack liberal democracy. He cited Hungary as a negative example. "Without the tens of billions from the EU, they would be totally sanded off," said Kogler. He quoted the former Hungarian minister Bálint Magyar from the "Democracy Institute" in Budapest, who even spoke of a "mafia state".

Heavy artillery against the blue "Putin brothers"
In Austria, Kogler sees the "Putin brothers" of Herbert Kickl's FPÖ as trapped in the "opposition bench - government bench - dock" cycle. He believes that SPÖ leader Andreas Babler's finding that Kickl not only dislikes people, but also himself, is apt in view of the FPÖ leader's "grumbling, venomous gossip": "This is a poisoning of party leaders," says Kogler.