Vienna (OTS) – Chancellor Karl Nehammer admits mistakes in the pandemic. But he can’t please the critics of the measures. The FPÖ is using the virus for a general attack. The government doesn’t know the answer.
Compulsory vaccinations, school closings, lockdowns for the unvaccinated, lonely people in nursing homes: we are reluctant to remember what Corona has imposed on us. “With the knowledge we have today, we would do a lot of things differently,” said Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) at the presentation of the large study on coming to terms with the pandemic and dealing with it. Sociologist Alexander Bogner was more direct: murmuring, stonewalling and moralizing had brought compulsory vaccination into disrepute and divided people.
The damage is so lasting that politics and society are still suffering from it – and will continue to suffer for a long time. The government speaks of “reprocessing”. Oh well. We are talking about “reconciliation”. That sounds good. But reconciliation would require the willingness of everyone involved.
Some demand an “apology.” This in turn requires an admission of wrongdoing. But those who demand an apology are not interested in stonewalling, bullying or moralizing. The government could even ask for forgiveness for this.
The critics, especially the FPÖ and party leader Herbert Kickl, are more concerned with the general attack on the coalition and the state’s institutions. They imply that the government wantonly wanted to restrict people’s freedom. To do this, she teamed up with dark forces – the opposition, the pharmaceutical industry, the World Health Organization and the European Union anyway.
They do not admit that the situation was so new that there were no plans for it. They criticize the strictness of the measures – and would have shouted loudest if the pandemic had slipped away.
Kickl and these critics are not interested in an apology that could lead to reconciliation. They want the government to admit mistakes – and they want to make political capital out of these mistakes again. For now they have been successful: the FPÖ has been in first place in the polls for months.
And the government? She realizes how bad her situation is, but can’t find a way out. Nehammer announced the overhaul in the spring. The end result was a new crisis security law, the networking of health data and the promise of better communication.
But what is the government doing to counter polarization and division? The Chancellor wants to take people seriously, he says. He wants to listen and lead the discussion.
This is well-intentioned. However, Nehammer will not be able to fend off the Blues’ general attack in the coming election year.
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