Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehhammer has launched a PR campaign with upbeat messages aimed at boosting public confidence in his ruling coalition, a year before an election and while his conservative party is under fire, DPA reported on Tuesday, Agerpres reported.

Karl Nehhammer, who heads the Austrian People’s Party (OeVP), thus presented a campaign called “Believe in Austria!”. He admits that the population is suffering due to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and inflation, but “at the same time, we saw that the Austrian people are much stronger than many thought and we ourselves believed,” says the head of the Austrian government.

Nehhammer is not announcing any new projects in his campaign, but mentions anti-inflation measures, subsidies for renewable energy and the fight against illegal migration among the successes of his government, which is a coalition of the OeVP and the Greens.

The campaign begins a year before the parliamentary elections, at a time when the Austrian People’s Party is second in terms of voter intentions with 24%, behind the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), estimated at 30%. according to a survey released earlier this month.

Nehammer and his policy against Romania’s accession to Schengen

We remind you that Austria insists that the Schengen system does not work and refuses to allow Romania and Bulgaria to join, arguing mainly with the figures of the Austrian Ministry of Internal Affairs: 100,000 “illegal border crossings” in Austria, of which 75,000 are not registered in any another EU country.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu confirmed on Monday evening that Romania opposes the access of two Austrian army officers to a NATO meeting and accused Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehhammer of hypocrisy over the position on Romania’s accession to the Schengen area.

In an interview with the Bulgarian national radio station BNR, the Austrian political scientist Professor Reinhard Heinisch commented on the internal reason behind the blocking by the national-conservative government in Vienna of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen. Heinisch emphasized that after the parliamentary elections next year, Austria will give up its right of veto on Schengen.

“What can make the government abandon the blockade sooner are the interests of Austrian business. During the parliamentary debate, it became clear that Austrian companies are suffering losses due to the fact that Bulgaria and Romania are not yet in Schengen. The ruling People’s Party is not just a conservative party that joined forces with the far right. This is a party that defends the interests of the business community, and business already understands that the veto hinders economic relations with Bulgaria and Romania,” said Reinhard Heinisch.

In elections earlier this year in Lower Austria, the traditional parties, the conservative ÖVP and the social democratic SPÖ, suffered historic defeats, while the far-right gained ground. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehhammer explained that the disastrous result achieved by the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) is mainly due to the last “years of crisis”. The ÖVP achieved its worst result since 1945 and lost its absolute majority in Austria’s lower house.