Austria’s SPÖ leader wants a distinctive left-wing course
Published: Saturday, Nov 11th 2023, 19:10
Updated At: Saturday, Nov 11th 2023, 19:13
Zurück zu Live Feed
The Social Democrats in Austria want to get back on the road to success with a pronounced left-wing course. At the federal party conference in Graz, SPÖ leader Andreas Babler, who was re-elected with 88.76 percent of the vote, called for a fight against child poverty, the introduction of wealth taxes, a job guarantee for the long-term unemployed and affordable housing, among other things. He stands for a social democracy "that shows a clear edge again", Babler told the 600 or so delegates on Saturday. The SPÖ will reverse all social policy cuts made by the conservative ÖVP government. "We will rebuild everything they have leveled. We will make it even bigger, even more beautiful, even better than ever before."
It is also about preventing a Chancellor Herbert Kickl, said Babler with regard to the leader of the right-wing FPÖ. The regular date for the next election of the National Council - the chamber of representatives in the Austrian parliament - is around a year away. The SPÖ is far behind the right-wing populists in the polls. The country has been governed by a coalition of the conservative ÖVP and the Greens since 2019.
The 50-year-old Babler stood for re-election at the party conference. He had only become party leader in June under unprecedented circumstances. There had been a miscount at the party meeting in Linz, which is why Burgenland's Minister President Hans Peter Doskozil was initially elected as chairman. Two days later, it transpired that the votes had been mixed up and Babler was the actual winner. The 50-year-old is the mayor of Traiskirchen near Vienna, a community of 17,000 inhabitants.
©Keystone/SDA
German 
English 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic