Well, the fact that the FPÖ gives the black-red-pink government a "Fail" is less surprising. They would have done so in any case. Even if all borders had been closed. It is the business model of Herbert Kickl and his people to imply that everyone else is a total failure. It is too cheap.
The unfortunate thing for the government, however, is that what they deliver is really not enough, even if they are satisfied with themselves: It is good that they do not engage in obvious Orbanization and that, for example, Christian Stocker, the chancellor from the ranks of the People's Party, is the epitome of calm; that unlike his predecessors Sebastian Kurz, but also Karl Nehammer, he does not constantly churn out PR phrases.
However, it is not enough: With individual measures, such as the "social media regulation" for government politicians, there is a risk that it might even facilitate Orbanization at some point. After all, additional tax money is being used here to promote party-political propaganda, as confirmed by former Court of Audit President Franz Fiedler.
Or Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer (SPÖ): A man who enjoys appreciation and sympathy not only among leftists due to his competence and openness. He cannot do what he would like to do because the ÖVP and Neos are against it; namely, to introduce a wealth tax. Above all, he paints a rosy picture of the situation: In reality, according to the Fiscal Council, he must assume that he will fail in budget consolidation. Reason: The previous measures are simply not enough to reduce the new debt to less than three percent of GDP. He would need to take further action.
Through Marterbauer, perhaps the greatest weakness of this government becomes most apparent: SPÖ, ÖVP, and Neos are united in not being Kickl; however, they want different things in substance and together achieve too little.
"Doing the right thing" is their motto: It stands for the fact that they cannot say what they want to do and in which direction they want to develop Austria. For the ÖVP, doing the right thing means copying the Freedom Party as much as possible in asylum and migration policy, for the SPÖ, it means hitting the brakes on rents, and for the Neos, it means initially just demonstrating the ability to govern and swallowing a lot.
In the end, it is therefore no wonder that the three parties have not made much progress in polls so far. That they barely hold more than 50 percent in total. They cannot convince, they do not create a sense of new beginnings. For that, they would have to reinvent themselves, convey why black-red-pink should be the right thing for Austria - and beyond the answer that the country is temporarily spared a Chancellor Kickl through them.
Johannes Huber runs the blog dieSubstanz.at – Analyses and Backgrounds on Politics
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.