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Schilling is accused of spreading false allegations against others in Austrian politics. Right-wing radicals around the FPÖ are launching a smear campaign.
Vienna – A debate is emerging in Austria about the character of the Greens European elections-Top candidate Lena Schilling. On May 7th the left-liberal daily newspaper default an article, in which a good 50 people anonymously made allegations, some of them serious, against the 23-year-old. She is said to have spread rumors about other people in politics and the media that “threatened their existence.”
Schilling admitted individual mistakes, but at the same time criticized at a press conference on Wednesday morning (May 8th) that there was now a discussion based on “rumors” about whether she was “the right person” for a person EU-Mandate. Party leader and Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler even spoke of “murmurs or farts”, which the party will not dwell on.
EU leading candidate Schilling is said to have spread untruths about political companions
Essentially, the climate activist Schilling is accused of spreading untruths about others in Austrian politics and the media. Some of these allegations are supported by documents or chats, but some are apparently based on several statements from companions. The probably most serious allegation was substantiated by: default with a cease and desist declaration: Schilling is therefore no longer allowed to claim that a well-known Austrian publicist beat his spouse, also a well-known publicist, and that she then lost a child. Her party told the newspaper that Schilling made the comments “out of concern for a friend in her closest personal circle.” There have been rumors about the allegations for a long time. A month before the European elections, they have now been condensed into one article. Austria will elect a new parliament in the fall.
After the article was published, the journalist spoke out on the online platform X (formerly Twitter). default had reported the case anonymously. She wished that the “terrible allegations” that Schilling “made up” had never become public. She accused the Greens of knowing about the matter and still making Schilling the top candidate.
A Green MP emphasized anonymously to the default, it’s not about a “moral assessment” of Schilling’s behavior, but about the question of how professional her behavior is. The “vast majority of interlocutors” Standards were also worried that Schilling would be “burned out”. A former close friend wished her via Mirror“that she gets the help she needs and accepts it.”
Schilling is said to have accused two journalists of misconduct in private – without any evidence
Many of the allegations against Schilling affect her private life and that of other people involved. All other accusations that the top candidate had spread lies were made anonymously and were usually accompanied by further evidence. Schilling is said to have alleged to her circle of friends and acquaintances that a journalist from a “private media company” with whom she had frequent contact had harassed her. This is said to have triggered an investigation into the media company in question. The journalist agreed “without hesitation” to hand over his chats with Schilling to the human resources department. The result of this investigation was that there was “no relevant misconduct”. The company did not want to comment officially.
In another case, a victim, a “well-known television journalist,” considered suing Schilling, but decided against it in order to avoid greater attention. Schilling is said to have invented an affair with him and also assumed that he had other affairs with “other Greens”.
Are “bruised egos” from the Austrian climate movement spreading rumors against Schilling?
The in default The allegations made go back to Schilling’s time as a climate activist: A long-time comrade in the movement spoke of a “more than questionable way of dealing with very young people who look up to her.” Minors expressed the “feeling” that Schilling, as the spokesperson for an activist group, had “played them off against each other” in order to “cement” their power. After the allegations, she distanced herself from the group and the climate movement. Here the research seems to be based on statements from several people, at least no document or chat is cited as evidence.
After the article was published, another long-time climate activist expressed concerns via X that these accusations from the climate movement could be the result of “bruised egos”. It would also be nothing particularly new that radical left-wing circles resent the march through the institutions of former comrades-in-arms.
Austria’s Greens are defending themselves against allegations against their top EU candidate Lena Schilling
“One for all. “All for Lena,” wrote the federal green party on an Instagram tile on Wednesday morning. This is how the reaction of the party leadership can be summarized. Party leader Kogler said it was foreseeable that the election campaign would become “increasingly dirtier”. And so there is now particularly aggressive agitation against the “young, competent woman” Lena Schilling, said Kogler.
Parliamentary group leader Maurer, however, spoke of an “organized campaign” against Schilling, through which the cease-and-desist declaration was brought to several editorial offices. However, the ranks were not completely closed: Kati Schneeberger, also on the list for the EU Parliament, wrote on X that she “could not support” the reaction of the party leadership. The research of the Standards Describing them as “rumors” is damaging to journalism and ultimately plays into the hands of enemies of democracy.
Right-wing radical campaign against Schilling and the Greens by the FPÖ and the media financed by it
And it was precisely these enemies of liberal democracy that launched a campaign against Schilling on Wednesday evening: The FPÖ, which under its leader Herbert Kickl has recently slipped further and further to the right in terms of content, and the pseudo-media that it finances with advertisements targeted Schilling. They used the language of authoritarian populism. General Secretary Michael Schnedlitz, from the particularly radical Lower Austrian regional association, accused the Greens of “moral neglect”. A term that Kickl also uses, often paired with openly anti-Semitic language images. A media outlet run by a former FPÖ MP suspects a “cover-up” by the Green party leadership because the federal party headquarters was named to protect Schilling in the court proceedings.
Based on this, right-wing extremist troll accounts on social media indulge in misogynistic insults against Schilling. On Wednesday morning she pointed out that she was “not made of Teflon”. Anyone who knows her knows that these allegations were “very close” to her. However, she “doesn’t want to let it get her down”. (kb)
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