Coalition, election campaign

Friend and foe at the same time: the great FPÖ dilemma

Kickl (from left) has a good laugh: Federal Chancellor Nehammer is distancing himself from him, Upper Austria's state leader Stelzer is forming a coalition with Haimbuchner's FPÖ in Linz.(Bild: APA, Manfred Fesl, Harald Dostal Krone KREATIV,)

You could be forgiven for thinking that these parties are pretty much best enemies: on the federal stage, Kickl's FPÖ and Nehammer's ÖVP are fighting each other, whereas in Upper Austria the partnership is almost based on love: here, the black and blue parties emphasize in unison how well they can get along. Is this becoming a problem?

From Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer and his Upper Austrian party colleague Governor Thomas Stelzer downwards, practically everyone in the ÖVP emphasizes: "Working together with the Freedom Party under Kickl-that's not an option!" However, the style is also profound in the other direction.