FPÖ and Greens attack coalition

By Thomas Hochwarter

FPÖ boss claims government ignores people’s problems.
Greens leader says coalition is ‘reckless’.

Vienna. The opposition has launched a stinging attack on the government as Austria celebrated National Day on Monday.

Heinz-Christian Strache, head of the right-wing FPÖ, accused the SPÖ and ÖVP of not taking the worries of Austrians seriously, while Greens leader Eva Glawischnig claimed the coalition had "failed” at "future subjects” such as education and labelled the govern- ment’s reaction to the credit crunch "reckless”.

Strache stressed the im- portance of Austria’s neutrality. He said: "Neutrality has done great service to our country and must not be sacrificed at the altar of Brussels’ centralism."

He attacked the other parties for "only using emp- ty phrases” when it came to stressing the importance of the neutrality which Austria gained when the "Staatsvertrag” treaty was signed in 1955. Strache claimed SPÖ and ÖVP were only interested in securing their privileges instead of working on creating Aus- tria’s future. "One example is the ridiculous discussion over who will be Austria’s next EU Commissioner which has embarrassed Austria,” he said.

Strache said the govern- ment’s handling of immi- gration and interior securi- ty policies would "prove they do not care about people’s worries.”

Greens head Glawischnig called on the government to look into the future. "The economic crisis has left the potential of a social and a climate crisis. Austria’s answers are ‘fire-extinguishing reactions’. No sustai- nable, future-orientated measures have taken place. This is reckless,” she said.

Federal President Heinz Fischer meanwhile appealed in his traditional Natio- nal Day speech to continue the fight against unemploy- ment and the "bad develop-ments that led to the economic crisis”.

Fischer was expected to reveal whether he would run for a second term in office in his speech which was broadcast live on prime-time TV Monday. But the former SPÖ MP failed to do so. He said: "I don’t think National Day should be made use of for announcing personal decisions. I think the coming month of November will be the best time to make things clear.”

Fischer also called for a continued focus on supporting developments on the labour market. "We have to continue fighting unemp- loyment and give people a perspective.”

Fischer said those in charge needed to draw conclusions from develop- ments that led to the credit crunch.

"I’m talking about risky speculations, little sense of responsibility, few checks of the general system and excessive bonus payouts. (...) Conclusions need to be drawn now,” Fischer stressed in his speech.

Printausgabe vom 26.10.2009