Leonore Gewessler is the new federal spokesperson for the Greens. At Sunday’s federal congress in Vienna, she was elected to succeed Werner Kogler with 96.76% of the delegate vote. No candidate opposed her. She accepted this election “with great anticipation and respect,” she declared to the applause of the 250 delegates.
She was elected for a three-year term. Gewessler was most recently Kogler’s deputy in the party. Before entering party politics, she headed the environmental organization Global 2000. Within the Green Party, she covered the environmental protection wing and was able to distinguish herself in the environment, energy, and transport sectors in the coalition with the ÖVP.
With CO2 pricing, the climate bonus, the climate ticket, the EU renaturation against the wishes of the ÖVP, and the rejection of highway projects, Gewessler had offended some political opponents and even her then-coalition partner, the ÖVP, in her several years as Climate Protection Minister, but this enabled her to appear as a celebrated integration figure within the party.
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
Gewessler wants to focus on “listening”
Even in her application speech, Gewessler emphasized her great respect for the task ahead of her. She said it could only be accomplished as a team and thanked Kogler: He was a “green giant” from whom she had learned an incredible amount and who had always stood behind her. After the election, the person addressed returned the praise: “Leonore, I am convinced, we are convinced with great confidence, that things will turn out very, very well with you at the helm.”
Gewessler had previously stated that standing on stage while everyone just listened and nodded was no longer viable. That’s why she recently traveled around the country. “I think we need to listen to what people want from us, what they expect from us, and also what people need from us.” The attitude of “we already have the best concept” must end. Instead, she wants to translate people’s concerns, hopes, and dreams into concrete policies.
“Corona, War, Kurz” as “Crises”
In the five years of government with the ÖVP, they exhausted themselves and addressed three major crises – “Corona, War, Kurz,” as Gewessler emphasized. A great deal of energy was spent on persuasion in one direction.
In the process, what really matters was neglected. People are worried that they always have to justify themselves to the Greens. Yet, Gewessler added, she has a car in her garage, and she met her husband “in the least green place,” namely on an airplane.
Her conclusion: The Greens always want to make the world a better place, but they live in a world full of contradictions. “I want people to come to us not with fear, but with hope.”
