Media sees Austria’s Conservative-Green coalition as role model for Germany

Austria’s new government coalition of designated conservative chancellor Sebastian Kurz and the Green Party could serve as a role model for Germany, say several commentaries in German-speaking media.

“Germany can only look enviously at Austria these days,” writes Paul Ronzheimer in major tabloid Bild. “Tough on illegal migration and internal security, determined in the fight against climate change – crucial issues also for people in Germany,” he adds.
While the Austrian coalition could serve as a role model, it will not be as easy to form a conservative-green government in Germany, due to decades of fights between the CDU/CSU alliance and the Green Party, writes Jens Thurau for Deutsche Welle. For climate action, such a coalition could be an opportunity, he adds. “Even more than has already happened, the fight against greenhouse gases could be anchored in the middle of society.”
Ivo Mijnssen writes in Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung that Austria’s new coalition is an “innovative experiment which radiates beyond national borders”. “The Germans, in particular, look closely at the Austrian pioneers when they discuss the post-Merkel era and seek an alternative to the supposedly alternative-free conservative-social democratic government,” he writes.

Members of Austria’s Green party had voted to join a new government led by the conservative Kurz, clearing the final hurdle for an untested national left-right alliance. Kurz had said: “It is possible to protect the climate and the borders at the same time.” After the last national German elections in 2017, Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the Green Party had entered negotiations with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) for what would have been the first such coalition at federal level. However, the FDP pulled out at the last minute, thus paving the way for a renewal of the current coalition of conservatives and Social Democrats (SPD).