After ricochets

SPÖ leader Babler: “I am the antithesis of a messiah”

Andreas Babler at the demonstration under the motto "Defend democracy" in Vienna on Saturday(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK)

SPÖ chairman Andreas Babler reacted to internal criticism on Sunday and also rebuked his comrades. In the debate on the age of criminal responsibility, which has flared up due to numerous knife attacks, Babler spoke out against lowering the age of criminal responsibility in an ORF interview. Instead, he called for a juvenile court.

Babler tried to react calmly to the cross shots from his own party in the "Pressestunde": In a large party there would naturally be discussions, he said, trying to discuss internally and also pleading for this. "That could be developed even more professionally," he told his comrades. He was even "happy" about statements such as those made by the Second President of the National Council Doris Bures (SPÖ) in a "Presse" interview, according to which it was not a good recipe to "run after a false messiah", Babler said, because: "I am a counter-model of a messiah", it would be good to get away from the cult of personality.

Locates "parallel societies"
In view of the increasing number of cases of juvenile delinquency, Babler acknowledged "mistakes and challenges" in the area of migration and integration. The party leader criticized "problem areas", "parallel societies" and "ghettoization". At the same time, he emphasized that the ÖVP had almost always been responsible for integration.

The SPÖ leader answered questions from Eva Linsinger (profil) and Hans Bürger (ORF).(Bild: Screenshot/ORF)

"We need a defensive republic"
"We need a defensive republic that can enforce the rule of law." This would require more police officers, but also a juvenile court and supervised facilities with compulsory residence for young offenders. Prevention work is also important. Lowering the age of criminal responsibility, on the other hand, is not a recipe for Babler: locking up children would only have the effect of "keeping them on the wrong track", he believes. He called for ankle cuffs for men who threaten women with violence.

Babler rejected an upper limit for asylum seekers, saying that nobody could seriously discuss such proposals - and thus indirectly criticized the SPÖ provincial leaders Dornauer and Doskozil. What was needed was "active border protection management", seamless registration, regulated procedures and repatriation agreements.

FPÖ Secretary General Michael Schnedlitz then accused Babler in a press release of having "no interest in the safety of our compatriots" and mocking the "many victims of migrant violence". "Babler's opinion is tantamount to a carte blanche." FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl had previously stated in the "Krone" newspaper that he wanted to put juvenile offenders "in so-called boot camps, depending on the severity of the crime, where they learn discipline and subordination".

Still sees first place within reach
In the polls, Babler's SPÖ is currently well behind the FPÖ, but the SPÖ leader still believes it is realistic to reach first place in the National Council elections in September. The fact that a coalition with the FPÖ is out of the question is "unalterable", he says, and the SPÖ is "open" to all other parties - including the People's Party, which Babler had de facto ruled out in the meantime. Babler said that the ÖVP would have to think for itself about how to reposition itself. Babler left open whether the SPÖ members would be allowed to vote on a coalition agreement after the election if the worst came to the worst - the SPÖ would first discuss internally whether this was necessary.

The free radical market has failed.

SPÖ-Chef Andreas Babler will, dass der Staat mehr eingreift.

Bild: Screenshot/ORF

Babler once again criticized the current government policy, for example with regard to measures against inflation. The SPÖ leader once again insisted on a rent cap, a gas price brake and a suspension of VAT on basic foodstuffs. He also stuck to his demands for a gradual reduction in working hours with full wage compensation and wealth taxes. His recent call for a "transformation fund" was about how best to take measures against global warming, in the form of investments and state participation, because "the free radical market that has been propagated" had "failed". Babler remained vague on the question of financing: he merely pointed out that he would rather invest than buy certificates and pay fines.

ÖVP: "Burden fantasies"
In a press release, ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker accused Babler of "burden fantasies" with which he wanted to "punish hard-working people". Economically, Babler wants to bring Austria "ever closer to communist conditions", Stocker fears. "SPÖ Chairman Babler is displaying an understanding of economic and location policy that is particularly worrying in view of the latest economic forecasts from WIFO and IHS," said Karlheinz Kopf, Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce, criticizing "ideas of burden and nationalization fantasies" as "aberrations in location policy".