Austria’s new centre-left to ‘reevaluate’ relationship with conservatives

The new leader of Austria’s social-democrat SPÖ, the small-town Mayor Andreas Babler, will meet the political top brass of the country, ÖVP chief and Chancellor Karl Nehammer, amid his drive to revitalise the party by making it more democratic.

With much of the conservatives focused on migration policy, Babler said he’d “reevaluate” the relationship with the “radical ÖVP.” While the centre-right government stokes migration policy reform in Brussels, clinching a first deal in Luxembourg last week, the new SPÖ chief appears sceptical.

“The only thing that remains of fortresses are ruins,” he said. But introductions aside, the shake-up of Austrian politics has big plans for his party.

He “must reckon with a clear, bold SPÖ policy, he must be prepared for a comeback of social democracy,” Babler told Ö1 ahead of the meeting. Going into the 2024 elections, some eye a grand coalition of ÖVP and SPÖ.

Babler went from mayor to opposition leader after a botched party vote. His bid for leadership – which argued for a more confident SPÖ – saw thousands become party members.

Now, he wants to make the party more democratic – unlike in most European parties, the SPÖ members do not get to vote on its leadership. Changes to the party statute could also see members getting a vote on future government coalition treaties.

Vienna’s SPÖ, the party’s most influential group, is reluctant to go overboard on intra-party democracy.

“There is a reason why the statute does not provide for a membership vote on personnel decisions,” Barbara Novak, a close ally of Vienna mayor Michael Ludwig and SPÖ secretary-general, told Presse am Sonntag.

(Nikolaus J. Kurmayer | EURACTIV.de)