No Regrets  

Austria’s former chancellor Karl Nehammer sticks to his principles even when they conflict with the popular political culture. While the EU was still formulating a lukewarm response after the October 7 massacre, Nehammer was Europe’s first unequivocal voice in Israel’s defense. And now he’s stepped down instead of negotiating with a victorious neo-Nazi party. “When politics becomes a game of spin and lies, I’m out”

Former Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer did something this past January that other politicians — Israeli ones in particular — could all take a lesson from: He handed over the keys, not because of corruption, pending indictments, internal rebellion, or waning public support; but because he made a promise to his voters and decided to keep his word.

“I said I wouldn’t form a coalition with a neo-Nazi party, even if it cost me my position,” he told Mishpacha in an exclusive exit interview.

The Austrian legislative elections last September threw the country into unprecedented turmoil, when the far-right, neo-Nazi-affiliated Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) gained a plurality of seats in the National Council. In order to form a government, Nehammer and his center-right People’s Party (ÖVP) would have to begin negotiations with the Freedom Party and its leader Herbert Kickl, a neo-Nazi populist whose party won the most seats in parliament (no party in parliament agreed to form a coalition with the FPÖ).

Months later, Christian Stocker, brought in as the new head of the ÖVP, clinched a deal with the more left-leaning parties, after Nehammer’s attempt to form a coalition with them failed in January.