Big voter waddle?

How badly the Schilling affair is damaging the Greens

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

The next act in the Schilling affair: following new accusations, the party is going on the offensive. But experts see irreversible damage for the coming months ... 

Resignation? Never. Even if many might like to read this story, as Lena Schilling said. "I am a fighter. We will fight like lionesses," she said at a press conference after new allegations against the EU's top candidate had emerged the day before. 

Schilling, who is said to have spread nasty rumors about affairs and harassment, among other things, said in chats in November that she hated the Greens. "Taken out of context", as she criticized. The full chat also shows this. Schillling writes that she no longer "feels comfortable" in the Communist Party and that she could "learn" to become a Green. 

Messages between Schilling and her former friend Veronika Bohrn-Mena.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/SEPA.Media, GPA-djp)

X, formerly Twitter, has been full of smut for days. But - the damage to the party is likely to have a lasting effect. No matter how much the Greens campaign behind the SPÖ's accusations against the 23-year-old former activist. 

The Greens made the wall for Schilling - albeit somewhat clumsily ...(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

Dark times loom 
But what does this mean for the Greens and the upcoming elections? Political analyst Peter Plaikner: "By naming possible campaign initiators, they have finally gone on the offensive. And Lena Schilling shows that she has the toughness and the nerve to see it through." Nevertheless, damage can probably no longer be averted. Incidentally, opinion pollster Christoph Haselmayer (IFDD) and political consultant Thomas Hofer also see it that way.

First of all in the EU elections on June 9. There is a risk of losing seats here, meaning that the Greens could only hold one seat. That then belonged to Lena Schilling. The state of mind of the second, the experienced Styrian MP Thomas Waitz, is easy to imagine. And the reactions within the party.

There is also a federal congress on June 22. According to Plaikner, the party grandees could be "well and truly beaten up" for their performance in the EU elections. And after the national elections, the Greens will almost certainly end up in opposition. All the bonus they have built up in recent years would be gone."