Government without Babler

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Tyrol's SPÖ leader Wohlgemuth, Mattle and Green Party leader Gebi Mair.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

The blue-black coalition negotiations in the federal government finally broke down on Wednesday. Tyrol's governor Anton Mattle (ÖVP) promptly called for the resumption of negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS - but without SP leader Andreas Babler. This demand provoked some strong reactions - even from Mattle's deputy.

Following the collapse of the coalition negotiations, there are now differing views on how to proceed. As is well known, Mattle came up with a proposal for a three-party coalition of ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS on Wednesday, but only without SPÖ leader Andreas Babler.

Karl Nehammer has drawn his conclusions, Babler should follow him and take a step aside so that the points left unresolved in the tripartite negotiations can be resolved.

Tirols LH Anton Mattle

"The sole responsibility of the SPÖ"
Mattle would prefer Babler to "take a step to the side". This would allow the outstanding points from the tripartite negotiations to be resolved. This met with little approval from the Social Democrats.

Tyrol's SPÖ leader and Mattles LHStv. Philip Wohlgemuth was the first to formulate this: "The SPÖ's personnel is solely a matter for the SPÖ." Otherwise, Wohlgemuth was open to negotiations.

Fierce criticism from former coalition partner
The reaction from Mattle's former coalition partner - the Tyrolean Greens - was much more vehement. Club chairman and state spokesman Gebi Mair: "It really is hard to believe. The ÖVP fails for the second time in a short space of time to bring about a coalition and in the next breath Tyrolean Governor Anton Mattle has nothing better to do than to tell another party who should and should not be part of negotiations. It all smells very much like a continuation of this smear theater. The People's Party has still not understood the seriousness of the situation."

We Greens are happy for the country that we have been spared a far-right chancellor.

Tirols Grünen-Chef Gebi Mair

Bild: Christof Birbaumer

Mair and the Greens are in any case "glad" that Austria was "spared an extreme right-wing chancellor".