As is well known, his collar quickly bursts. In recent weeks, the Salzburg restaurateur has often had to discipline himself in order not to lose his composure. We are talking about NEOS part-time politician Sepp Schellhorn, who was one of the chief negotiators in the economic group. The country is confronted with bad news from the domestic economy on an almost daily basis, yet hardly a single point in the negotiating group has been turned green. Total deadlock on the most important issue for the future.

In view of this sluggishness, people in the pink ranks are exasperated by the dogmatic arguments being put forward - especially by the Social Democrats. "You often get the feeling that some negotiators have not yet arrived in the 21st century. In many clusters, especially the key ones, it's all about finding a minimum compromise," criticizes one Pinker.

With simple trade-offs (motto: "I'll help you with your concerns, you help me with mine"), the NEOS cannot currently be "bribed" to pave the way for a sweet coalition. A rocky learning process for the SPÖ and ÖVP. The best example is the debate about the budget deficit. The NEOS not only want to fix the budget, which has gone off the rails, with measures such as the abolition of the climate bonus.

The Pinks are also somewhat skeptical about the plan to consolidate the budget with an EU deficit procedure. "This is about Austria's reputation on the financial markets. We don't want Austria to look like a debtor state," said one Pinker.

PreventingKickl cannot be the purpose of the coalition
This straightforward, new style of negotiation, this permanent insistence on reforms even impresses ÖVP grandees: "The NEOS insist during the negotiations that the common denominator cannot just be the prevention of Herbert Kickl. They are right. We need a change on the pitch and in the country. Things are going to get crispy in the next few days." And the NEOS are following up: For them, "at the moment there is still too little that deserves the name reform coalition".

Four days before Christmas - on Friday - it should finally be decided whether there will be a breakthrough in the Zuckerl coalition. Initial results would be more than desirable.

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