Rauch said that on Wednesday in the Ö1 “morning journal”. Even if it is customary on the part of the ÖVP to “make noises” before party congresses or state elections, as is now the case in Upper Austria, this is “otherworldly” and “rejected” with regard to Afghanistan, said Rauch. The Green Party leader Werner Kogler also sees it that way, he assured.
His “sharper words” are addressed to the ÖVP, not to their own party. Rauch was convinced that the disputes within the turquoise-green coalition are getting tougher and will also increase. “We knew with whom we were going into a coalition. What we are doing is to counter it in the best possible way,” said Rauch.
Now it is a matter of pulling particularly endangered groups of people out of Afghanistan in a joint act of solidarity by the European states. Specifically, Rauch named journalists and women’s rights activists, for example. The calls from Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) to the European Commission are “more than dispensable. It is we who are in default, not the European Commission that has the right approach,” said Rauch. Nehammer had accused the EU Commission of “constantly sending the wrong messages”. The EU Commission had spoken out in favor of supporting Afghans within the country and in the neighboring countries of the region, but at the same time accepting people in Europe via resettlement.
Not only Greens from the West opposed the turquoise government line on Afghanistan, representatives of the Vienna party also spoke out publicly, especially to the Interior Minister. At a demonstration by the SPÖ women on Tuesday evening, local councilor Berivan Aslan was invited to speak, and according to media reports, the logo of the Vienna Green Party was also to be seen on banners. The motto of the demo was “Remove Nehammer”.
The following day, ÖVP club chairman August Wöginger criticized the rally. “It is irresponsible of representatives of the SPÖ to support the demonstrations for the admission of refugees from Afghanistan,” he wrote in a broadcast. He warned that another “wave of refugees” like the one in 2015 could “roll over” Austria.
