After that, little was revealed about the content – SP boss Birgit Gerstorfer only praised the “pleasant discussion base”, but otherwise no details could be extracted. From the comments of LH Thomas Stelzer (VP), however, one can conclude that the chances of a second SP state seat of government are likely to be very slim.
In advance, the VP and SP did not want to reveal what exactly they were going to talk about – and after the one-hour meeting it was not much different. Gerstorfer said they were “good conversations”. The SP will “continue to talk on Monday whether there will be more in-depth discussions”. The VP holds a party executive on Monday morning. It is expected that a decision will be made here with whom to enter into coalition negotiations. The SP consultations should take place after the VP committee meeting, so Gerstorfer on request.
Stelzer: “I’m not ruling anything out”
Even if the SP has definitely not withdrawn from the race for government cooperation – they want to “take responsibility”, according to Gerstorfer – this variant is considered less likely than black and blue or black and green. However, Stelzer also said: “I don’t commit myself to anything and I don’t rule anything out.”
After the exploratory meeting, the governor reported that they had talked about “what stands between us” and “what questions are before us”, including jobs, financial issues and social partner issues. Even if neither side wanted to say anything about departmental responsibilities, the question that arises between them is whether the Social Democrats will keep their social department and whether they will get a second seat in the nine-fold concentration government.
The key question here is whether or not there will be a decision to include the invoice. Without such a resolution, the VP has an additional – fifth – seat of government and the SP has only one, as before. But Stelzer didn’t leave much room for red hopes: The state constitution provides for a clear regulation – should mean that the VP is entitled to the fifth state council, unless the state parliament decides otherwise. “It is clear that this would not be in the TP’s sense of the word”.
The exploratory round, which began on Wednesday with the previous government partner FP and continued on Thursday morning with the SP, goes into the third round with the Greens at noon. In the evening it is MFG’s turn to “get to know each other” and on Friday it is the turn of the NEOS. However, no majority is possible with the latter two.
Coalition: Greens more realistic than SP
The Greens expected at noon are considered a more realistic coalition variant than the SP, but the best chances have so far been generally attributed to the FP. However, there are already headwinds from within the VP: As the “O. Nachrichten” reported in its Thursday edition, several black mayors are mobilizing against black and blue. When asked about this, Stelzer said: All opinions in the party were taken into account, but: “There is no decision that everyone likes 100 percent.”
