Restaurateur Schellhorn:

“We need more of the regulars’ table”

"The Rainer Nowak Talk": Entrepreneur Sepp Schellhorn is back with the Neos. He criticizes the power of the federal states and calls for urgently needed reforms.

Around three years ago, the dazzling restaurateur and entrepreneur Sepp Schellhorn left the Neos and politics. He is celebrating a comeback in 2024. "Krone" anchor Rainer Nowak wants to know "Why"? Schellhorn: "I was also overstretched because of the pandemic. And I wanted to get out of the hassle of politics. Now I've realized from a distance that I do want to make a contribution. The economy needs a driving force and a contact person. That's what I feel called to do".

Recently, people have been promised the blue or turquoise sky. "There are major challenges. Inflation, social benefits. How do we manage that? There's no way, there's no way. We must finally reform this state. It won't work with the watering can principle alone."

"That upsets me - that's why I'm back"
 Veit Dengler, media manager and co-founder of the Neos, was also a guest of Rainer Nowak, as was "Krone" head of internal police Ida Metzger. He assists Schellhorn and takes Switzerland or Scandinavian countries as a role model. "There are reforms in several areas there, show me reforms in Austria? These countries also have less debt. In Austria, they just say it has to stay the way it is. Take the pension system, for example."

Ida Metzger said smugly that Sepp Schellhorn had returned because he was not entirely satisfied with the Neos. The 56-year-old Schellhorn replied that the Neos did not need to change. Even if they are only making limited progress in elections and polls. He presents new approaches. "We have very expensive school and healthcare systems. And it doesn't really work. The social partnership can't think of anything other than house builder bonuses."

A different system is needed in general. "The provincial governors are pulling the government around by the nose. Apart from Vienna, the provincial parliaments are overrated. And then there are absurdities like the schnitzel premium. In Austria, we make policy for politicians, not for taxpayers." Schellhorn points to a lack of transparency. And too much bureaucracy. "That upsets me, that's why I'm back."

An "innkeeper's child" criticizes the U-committees
Dengler says that Sweden abolished official secrecy in 1766, Austria only now. That says it all. The Neos stand for transparency and progress.

Ida Metzger also believes that the Neos have a good chance of forming a three-party coalition with the ÖVP and SPÖ after the elections.

Schellhorn believes that the Neos must work on the largest parliamentary group. That of the non-voters. Get to the people.

"I'm a pub kid, we need more regulars' tables. That's where arguments are exchanged and people bash each other's heads in and then talk to each other again the next day. You can't leave that to social media." The entrepreneur also sees the U-committees as problematic. "That's too populist for me. I'm more in favor of expert committees." Postscript: "We have to listen to those who hack and pay taxes every day. We're not aware enough of that."

"The Rainer Nowak Talk" - every Wednesday, 21:15, on krone.tv