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The ÖVP’s Leitkultur campaign is torn apart

The debate initiated by the ÖVP about an Austrian Leitkultur is causing a stir in politics and online. Diakonie Director Maria Katharina Moser caused a stir with particularly harsh criticism. She says that the People's Party is using the discussion to distract from real problems.

She was surprised that the election campaign was being played up so much during Holy Week of all times, Moser told Ö1's "Mittagsjournal" program. In her view, a debate about Leitkultur is completely superfluous. "In Austria, we have a foundation of values on which our society is built, which guides our coexistence, and that is human rights."

Diakonie Director Maria Katharina Moser(Bild: simon-rainsborough-dgg)

She sees this debate as an election campaign strategy by Integration Minister Susanne Raab. "And I have to say that, as the director of Diakonie, who is also a pastor, I am surprised that the election campaign is being played up so much during Holy Week of all times," says Moser. The ÖVP should rather take care of the care problem. 

Author Michael Köhlmeier also sees this as a diversionary tactic. "Leitkultur" is a stupid term. "No one wants to be guided in their cultural ideas," he said in the Vorarlberger Nachrichten newspaper. "Those who shout the loudest about morality are the ones who break it most violently."

The ÖVP's "Leitkultur" ("guiding culture") campaign is causing amusement, especially on social media. The only expert on Austrian Leitkultur is 
Manfred Deix, for example. Some of the ÖVP posters are being redesigned: Instead of men and women in traditional costume, a parking lot with cars can be seen with the headline "Together against nature. This is the leading culture."

The People's Party even wants to capture Leitkultur more scientifically.(Bild: ÖVP)

On X (formerly Twitter), they let their imagination run wild.(Bild: Screenshot)

Criticism also comes from another religious representative. The President of the Jewish Community, Oskar Deutsch, of all people, takes offense at the ÖVP poster, which denounces the refusal of Muslim men to shake hands with women.

The ÖVP is polarizing with its campaign.(Bild: ÖVP)

Religion is tricky territory, explains Deutsch.(Bild: Screenshot)

It is very problematic, says Deutsch. Shaking hands is "the worst conceivable criterion for statements about misogyny", because religious Jews are often "guardians of touch". "They only touch their own partner, out of respect for marriage and out of respect for the opposite sex."