ORF “Summer Interview”

A Showdown Between Kickl and His “Favorite Network”

Herbert Kickl and the ORF: rarely a relaxed relationship...(Bild: Imre Antal)

When Herbert Kickl makes one of his rare appearances on ORF, you know in advance: a broadside is coming. Against the “establishment” media, the “establishment” parties—simply the “establishment” itself. Buoyed by the election victory of its sister party, the AfD, in Saxony-Anhalt, the leader of the largest opposition party was the last to take a seat with Simone Stribl on “Sommergespräch.” Climate change, ties to the Identitarians: things got heated.

“Today’s guest on our ‘favorite channel,’” the blue party leader hinted with a wink on his Facebook page that afternoon, already signaling the direction the evening would take. He said he would “speak plainly there—about the problems that are a burning concern for the people of Austria, about the countless missteps in our country, and about what finally needs to change.”

What exactly are these issues? For Stribl and the ORF, likely the FPÖ’s ties to the Identitarians and the climate crisis; for Kickl and the FPÖ, the “ORF as a propaganda tool” and crime committed by foreigners. Who will get more issues across in the end? Follow the “ORF” summer debate here with the “Krone” starting at 9 p.m.—and vote on Kickl’s performance.

Human-caused climate change? “I don’t accept that.”
The discussion began with climate change, which Kickl dismissed as “alarmism.” “First it was forest die-off, then the hole in the ozone layer, now it’s climate change.” All of this is just a distraction, he said. And as for people who can’t leave the house when it’s 40 degrees, “it doesn’t help them either if you tell them the world is coming to an end.” He said he wouldn’t “accept that human-produced CO2 is to blame.”

Rate Herbert Kickl’s appearance here:

Watch the krone.tv Summer Talks here:
The ORF concludes its Summer Talks with Herbert Kickl. On krone.tv, the political summer goes into overtime. Following Leonore Gewessler, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, Christian Stocker, and Andreas Babler, FPÖ leader Kickl will face questions from political editor Christian Nusser and krone.tv editor Katia Wagner in mid-September.