SPÖ deputy chief Julia Herr has signalled her reluctance to govern in a grand coalition with the centre-right ÖVP, citing her experience with the problem of corruption in the party following a parliamentary inquiry.
The leadership shake-up in the SPÖ saw Julia Herr ascend to deputy chief of Austria’s social democrats – multiple media appearances since confirmed her role as the party’s face.
Now, she explained that a potential grand coalition with the ÖVP is far from her preferred option following the autumn 2025 election. “ Of course, one cannot form a coalition with such a party,” she told Presse am Sonntag.
Recent polls put the SPÖ at over 20%, down from 30% before the party leadership struggle-. The ÖVP polls around 25%, making the government arrangement that ruled from the late 20s into the mid-2010s technically possible.
Herr is sceptical of such an option. She added that she’d spent “months” in the parliamentary inquiry into possible crimes during the last ÖVP government and seen the party’s “corruption” first-hand.
Since the late 2010s, little had changed, the SPÖ politician said. “The corruption merry-go-round continues to spin.”
The SPÖ continues to favour a German-style “traffic light” consisting of liberals, centre-left and the Greens.
Meanwhile, the party has signalled its willingness to cooperate on key climate and energy laws – like the Austrian boiler ban from 2022 – that requires a two-thirds majority due to Austria’s constitution.
(Nikolaus J. Kurmayer | EURACTIV.de)
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