While FP party chairman Herbert Kickl was still blustering at the party conference that Walter Rosenkranz would oust the government as Federal President, he struck a much more conciliatory tone in yesterday’s ZiB 2 interview. The Federal President has this power, but it is a “multi-stage process”. So he wants to talk to all members of the government about the measures they are planning to counteract inflation. Moderator Martin Thür asked several times what parameters he then applied for a dismissal, who asked the question against the background of Rosenkranz’s announcement that he wanted to remain a party member. According to Rosencrantz, he alone will not be speaking to the chancellor and the ministers behind the “closed wallpaper door”. Because in some departments he lacks the expertise: “I’m not a miracle worker.” Rather, he would involve experts – “not from the blue party headquarters” – and advisory staff from the ministers in the talks: “But ultimately I make the decision.”
When Alexander Van der Bellen made use of this right and left the then Interior Minister Kickl behind, Harald Vilimsky (FP) spoke of “exceeding the moral competence radius” and demanded that the Federal President should no longer be able to dismiss members of the government in the future. When asked by moderator Thür about this contradiction to the current position of the FP, Rosenkranz emphasized that he would not do this arbitrarily, but “well thought out”. The pretexts against Kickl were wrong.
Thür asked whether the will of the people would not be ignored if a government behind which an elected majority in the National Council were to be dismissed. According to Rosencrantz, he would respect the will of the people, the “people on the street” had lost their trust in the government.
“Will stay more free”
The fact that he wants to become a party member does not contradict the non-partisan claim to the office of Federal President, emphasizes the FP politician. Rather, incumbent Van der Bellen is impartial, but acts “partially, in my opinion,” said Rosenkranz. The opposite will be the case with him: “I am more liberal and I will remain so.”
Rosenkranz once named the Salzburg politician Julius Sylvester as his role model. He was a member of the Provisional National Assembly and a state notary in 1918 and 1918 and before that a member of the Reichsrat. But he was also an “ardent anti-Semite,” as Thür put it. He has a lot in common with New Year’s Eve, including going to the same school, says Rosencrantz. What they don’t connect is anti-Semitism: “I exclude that from him.”
Source: Nachrichten
