Vienna (OTS) – In part 2 of the Ö3 summer talks in “Breakfast with Me” (June 23), NEOS boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger was a guest of Claudia Stöckl.
Meinl-Reisinger commented on the current conflict in the coalition surrounding the EU vote by Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) for the renaturation law: “It makes me very ashamed. Again, it’s just about being there for certain clients and now the two coalition parties have also become complaint parties. It is also embarrassing for our EU partners. In terms of content, I think it was wise to agree.”
The NEOS top candidate also revealed a lot of personal things:
Alongside her husband, a household helper and babysitter help her manage the balancing act between work and family. “There are many moments where I doubt and have the feeling that one is not enough here and there. And then somehow it continues.” There are calls for order when her older daughters, 12 and 15 years old, take their cell phones to dinner:
“I don’t allow cell phones at the table. We spend so little time together anyway.” Executive coaching changed her for the better and made her softer, says the 46-year-old politician in an interview with Ö3 presenter Claudia Stöckl: “I have become more generous, with myself and others. I was already tough, even as a boss. I worked on myself there, learned to practice self-care and take care of myself. Only then can you be caring and mindful of others.”
For the period after the election, Meinl-Reisinger confirmed her goal of getting into government in the Ö3 summer talk: “But it is not governing at any price. I won’t let myself be restricted to the role of a small junior partner who can play a little bit.” How great is the pressure within the party to become a coalition partner? What if it doesn’t work? Meinl-Reisinger: “You mean, would there be a lively party leader sawing off? No, I don’t see that.” Beate Meinl-Reisinger rejected the idea that party founder Matthias Strolz, who has always flirted with a return to politics, would come back to the NEOS for the post of Education Minister on Ö3: “We are Well in touch, but there are no concrete plans. What makes me very happy is that there are many personalities at NEOS who can do that.” The NEOS boss found it irritating, she explains on Ö3, that she learned this week about alleged “government lists” that are said to be circulating: “I don’t know whether from the ÖVP or the SPÖ, where ministerial positions are already being awarded and where names are already written. It would have been on this list that I would then become Minister of Education. I find this so outrageous that ‘old party officials’ apparently have nothing else to do – at a time when it’s really about offering solutions – than handing out positions again and everyone gets a playground somewhere. That’s nothing, nothing can do that.” Beate Meinl-Reisinger defined her own ambitions for the job of Education Minister on Ö3 as follows: “I was very happy that I was trusted to do it. I also have the confidence to do other things.”
For anyone who missed the broadcast, the audio excerpts are available online on the Ö3 homepage (oe3.ORF.at) and on ORF-Sound to listen to, and the entire conversation is available in the Ö3 “Breakfast with Me” podcast.
The Ö3 summer talks in “Breakfast with Me” with Claudia Stöckl – the top candidates in person – every Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Hitradio Ö3.
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