Leonore Gewessler is the new federal spokeswoman of the Greens. At Sunday’s federal congress in Vienna, she was elected successor to Werner Kogler with 96.76 percent of delegate votes. There were no opposing candidates. “I accept the election with great anticipation and respect,” she said amid applause from the 250 delegates.
Gewessler—most recently Kogler’s deputy in the party—is the ecological figurehead of the Greens. Having entered federal politics only in 2019, she was able to develop her profile within the coalition’s environment, energy, and transport ministries. She was elected for a three-year term of office. Also chosen to the federal executive committee were Helga Krismer, Barbara Neßler, Alma Zadic, Peter Kraus, and Stefan Kaineder, with Bernhard Seitz as financial officer. In light of the move into opposition, the secretary-general post—formerly held by Olga Voglauer—was abolished.
In her candidacy speech, Gewessler had already emphasized her great respect for the task ahead. “This can only be achieved as a team,” she said, thanking Kogler: he is a “Green giant” from whom she learned an incredible amount and who has always stood behind her. After the vote, Kogler returned the praise: “Leonore, I am convinced—we are convinced with great confidence—that it will work very, very well with you at the helm.”
Gewessler noted that standing on stage while everyone merely listened and nodded “can no longer work.” That is why she has recently been traveling the country. “I believe we need to listen to what people expect from us and what they need from us. It must be over with ‘we already have the best concept.’ Instead, I want to translate people’s worries, hopes, and dreams into concrete policy.”
She recapped the last five years in government with the ÖVP—“Corona, war, Kurz,” as Gewessler emphasized—during which “we burned ourselves out facing three great crises.” Much energy went into persuasion in one direction, and in doing so the essentials of policy were often overlooked. People now fear they always have to justify themselves before the Greens. Gewessler pointed out that she herself has a car in the garage, and that she met her husband in “the least green place,” namely on an airplane.
Her conclusion: The Greens have always wanted to make the world better, but we live in a world full of contradictions. “I want people to come to us with hope, not fear.” Kogler underscored this: “We have a mission, but we must not behave like missionaries.”
Turning to political competitors, Gewessler dismissed SPÖ leader Andreas Babler as a climate- and social-policy “paper giant”; accused the ÖVP of planning to import Russian gas again and of undermining human-rights jurisprudence; and said the FPÖ is only interested in “managing problems” and, driven by Russian propaganda, “wants a world in which we no longer decide for ourselves who we cozy up to.”
The FPÖ replied dismissively. “With climate fanatic Leonore Gewessler, the detached, completely out-of-touch, and reality-free course of the Greens continues,” said Federal Secretary General Michael Schnedlitz in a statement. “Gewessler’s laudatory speech about the Green participation in government over the past five years is a slap in the face of the Austrian population. Self-perception and external perception, imagination and reality couldn’t be further apart.”
