Nasty attack

Why it suddenly stank at the FPÖ launch

A stink bomb hit the blue "Fortress Europe" at the Freedom Party's election campaign kick-off in Vienna's Lugner City.(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

Excitement at the FPÖ's official EU election campaign launch in Vienna's Lugner City on Friday! A stink bomb was thrown onto the stage even before top candidate Harald Vilimsky's appearance. 

However, the FPÖ defied the foul odor and renewed its claim to become the strongest political group in Austria in the elections on June 9.

The perpetrators were identified by the police
"Friends, your stink bombs can't stink as much as your behavior stinks," Vilimsky told the perpetrators of the attack, who, according to the FPÖ, were identified by the police.

Friends, your stink bombs can't stink as much as your behavior stinks.

FPÖ-EU-Spitzenkandidat Harald Vilimsky

Richard Lugner also stirred up the atmosphere
Host Richard Lugner also took to the campaign stage to give his thoughts on the incident: "In a democracy, you should let everyone express their opinion, not rail against it."

Host Richard Lugner also gave a speech(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

"Fortress Europe"
The rest of the election campaign kick-off was as we have come to expect from the Freedom Party. The John Otti Band and FPÖ Secretary General Michael Schnedlitz acted as warm-up acts, evoking the discontent of the core audience against "climate terrorism" and Brussels harassment even before the lead candidate. How "Fortress Europe" must be decorated was also clear in Lugner City, which was packed to the last galleries: with blue balloons and a sea of red-white-red flags.

FPÖ General Michael Schnedlitz(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

Vilimsky hopes to double the number of mandates
Vilimsky is also hoping for a doubling of the current three mandates in the EU Parliament, if not more. He also referred to current polls, which put the FPÖ at more than 26 percent. "This shows us that our issues are better suited to the mood of the Austrian population than all the others."

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However, the only poll that counts is the result on election day, he emphasized and called on his audience to actually take part in the ballot.

"EU bacon"
Nothing has changed in the Freedom Party's program: Vilimsky, for example, still wants to get rid of the "EU flab", i.e. halve the size of the Commission and Parliament. "The smaller the Brussels bureaucracy monster is, the less it can intervene in the lives of European citizens with more and more regulations," said the Freedom Party's leading candidate. At the same time, the "insanities" with which the EU makes life difficult for people must be ended.

Once again, Vilimsky took the opportunity to speak out on the Green Party turbulence and more or less defend their lead candidate Lena Schilling, at least in this matter - albeit clearly on her own behalf. "There is no one who rejects the Greens more than I do," he said. What was happening here, however, was a "self-destruction" of the left.