Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer: How do you prove leadership?

Anyone who met Chancellor Karl Nehammer last week in the SPIEGEL interview in the historic marble corner room of the Chancellery saw a man who seems to be aware of the magnitude of his task.

Exactly at the place where the Austrofascist Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was murdered in 1934, Nehammer first spoke about the crisis in Europe and about the EU as "the most successful peace project in the history of the continent".

The head of government left no doubt about his pro-European orientation.

He was less keen on addressing his problems on the domestic political front.

On the one hand, there is the massive criticism of the vaccination requirement passed in Parliament on Thursday.

FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl once again emerged as spokesman in the debate, speaking of an "assassination attempt on human dignity" and the path to "health communism".

The latter a memorable neologism.

Criticism of Austria's advance, which is unique in Europe, came not only from Kickl.

Across camps, there were complaints that the draft law came too late, had technical legal deficiencies and was too tame overall.

Mockers speak of a "vaccination obligation"

The fact that, in addition to the “obligatory vaccination”, as scoffers say, a 1.4 billion euro reward system including vaccination fleet was launched follows a logic customary in the country.

Robert Menasse coined the term »either-and-or« to describe the Austrian tendency towards ambiguity.

Karl Nehammer currently has other concerns. When asked about his statement that the ruling ÖVP had "no corruption problem," he complained during the SPIEGEL interview in the Chancellery about the tendency "to express blanket suspicions against the Austrian People's Party." Nothing critical of his predecessor Sebastian Kurz could be elicited from him. However, Nehammer admitted that the chats that had become public in the course of the corruption investigations had done massive damage to his party: "What you read there is completely unacceptable."

You will probably soon read more unacceptable.

That's what conversations that have come to light in the past week alone suggest.

Among other things, it is about crude job haggling in the judiciary.

The data comes from the news pool from the mobile phone of the former head of cabinet in the ÖVP-led Ministry of the Interior.

Momentous rowing game

The man is said to have fallen into the water during a rowing excursion with employees and then entrusted his damaged mobile phone to a technician from the domestic intelligence service to be repaired.

He evaluated the stored data and obviously sold it on.

According to the investigation file, the wife of the current chancellor, Katharina Nehammer, was also on board the damaged boat.

At the same time, it became known that a survey financed with 150,000 euros from taxpayers' money was intended to find out which animal names could suit which politicians.

Sebastian Kurz was mostly compared to a »dolphin« or a »squirrel«.

The pollster responsible is one of the numerous suspects in the investigation into advertising corruption, which ultimately led to Kurz's resignation.

Nehammer's successor will be interrogated as a witness right at the beginning of the investigative committee that will start on March 2 "regarding clarification of allegations of corruption against ÖVP government members".

At the same time, the criminal investigations against various of his party friends continue.

Exciting months lie ahead for the chancellor and managing director of the ÖVP.

In polls, the coalition, ÖVP and Greens taken together, is only 36 percent in approval.

The tendency to hold new elections in the government camp is correspondingly low.

In other words: Nehammer's chances of not having to leave office as the third chancellor within a very short time are quite decent for the time being.

Stories we recommend:

• How Chancellor Karl Nehammer sees the state of the nation and how compulsory vaccination should work

• How Herbert Kickl's Corona course splits the FPÖ

• ...and, as a delicious insight into the great moments of Austrian parliamentarianism, the review of a colleague from the research platform "zackzack"

Kind regards

Walter Mayr (Correspondent for Austria and Southeast Europe, Der SPIEGEL)

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