One can politely label the current course of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) as cognitive dissonance, or, more brutally, as mendacious. At the federal level, its general secretary calls the right-wing populists from the FPÖ a “corruption party” and accuses them of “slavery to Russia”. The constitutional minister says there are currents and tendencies in the FPÖ that she “deeply rejects”. At the same time, however, the ÖVP forms a coalition in three federal states with this partly right-wing extremist party.
Austria: The new SPÖ boss and his no to ÖVP and FPÖ – opinion
