ÖVP and SPÖ at loggerheads

“Zuckerl” negotiations: Harsh tones over the budget

The current budget situation is causing an exchange of blows between Josef Muchitsch (right) and Johanna Mikl-Leitner.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA stock.adobe.com)

The more than tense budget situation continues to cloud the climate in the coalition negotiations. All sides are still aiming for a federal government consisting of the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS. Away from the party leaders, however, Black and Red are particularly grumpy about the deficit.

SPÖ negotiator and FSG leader Josef Muchitsch recently attacked Johanna Mikl-Leitner, governor of Lower Austria, who had criticized the issue setting.

Mikl-Leitner skeptical of three-party coalition
"If we don't take clear, effective measures to revive the economy and impose strict penalties for those who refuse to integrate, then this government doesn't even need to start working," Mikl-Leitner, who works with the FPÖ in her federal state, had told the negotiating teams. She fears that a future coalition government could lead the "country to the wall".

We don't need these calls from the outside right now. Unless you want to prevent this coalition. Then you should have the courage to say so.

"Representatives from three parties have been negotiating for hours on end for days to find solutions to the crisis with the biggest budget deficit in the Second Republic, which, mind you, came about without the participation of the SPÖ. And then there are shouts from those who contributed to the disaster," countered the red unionist Muchitsch.

Stocker defends the federal line
Despite his party's ongoing coalition negotiations with the FPÖ in Styria, ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker defended the line on Monday. He said that it was the decision of the state party and that it had no influence on the ongoing negotiations at federal level. "What we said before the election also applies to us after the election: we will not enter into a coalition with Herbert Kickl."

We will not enter into a coalition with Herbert Kickl.

ÖVP-Generalsekretär Christian Stocker

Negotiations with the SPÖ and NEOS are ongoing. "It is and remains our goal to form a government of the majority," says Stocker.