Team Stronach

Team Stronach for Austria
Party leader	Frank Stronach
Secretary General	Christoph Hagen
Federal Managing Director	Ronald Bauer
founding	September 25, 2012
Place of foundation	Vienna
resolution	December 31, 2017
Headquarters	Reichsratsstrasse 3, 1010 Vienna
Government grants	8.8 million euros (2017)
Number of members	350 (2014)
Party structure	6 regional associations
Minimum age	16 years
Alignment	Economic liberalism , Euroscepticism ,
colour	yellow
Website	www.teamstronach.at

The Team Stronach for Austria (short: Team Stronach ) was a populist political party that was founded in September 2012 by the industrialist Frank Stronach and was immediately represented in the National Council through the transfer of MPs from other parties . After elections in spring 2013, she moved into three state parliaments and three state governments in Austria. In the National Council elections in 2013 , she received 5.7% of the vote and thus received eleven seats. The seat of the party was Vienna .

On June 27, 2017, the party announced that it would not participate again in the 2017 National Council election and that it would dissolve itself at the end of the year.

program

The party presented its first detailed party program in April 2013. Initially, when it was founded, a 30-page “basic program” was published in which, among other things, an administrative reform was called for, the “reduction of duplication” and a simpler structure of public administration as a whole should aim. For example, the currently 21 Austrian social and health insurance funds should be merged. In the field of national defense, the current principle of compulsory military service was to be replaced by that of a professional army with two-year regular soldiers, and civilian service was to be retained as a two-year voluntary service. The euro in its current form should therefore be replaced by a system of freely convertible "national euro ". With regard to the tax system, the introduction of a flat tax (called “fair tax”) was called for, the rate of which could then be reduced to 25% within five years. The state budget should be balanced, new debts were rejected. In the area of ​​justice, the reintroduction of the examining magistrates, which were abolished in 2008, was called for. General tuition fees should also be (re) introduced, the amount of which should be based on business demand.

history

See also : Frank Stronach, Politics section

In August 2012, after much speculation, Stronach announced that he wanted to found a party that would run with him as the top candidate in the 2013 National Council election. In the following weeks he was joined by the four members of the National Council Gerhard Köfer ( SPÖ ), Erich Tadler , Robert Lugar (both non-party, formerly BZÖ ) and Elisabeth Kaufmann-Bruckberger (BZÖ) as well as several former politicians. The MPs were initially non-attached, as five MPs “from the same campaigning group” had to join forces to found a parliamentary club. In numerous opinion polls, the party was forecast to join the National Council in 2013, even before it was founded . On September 25th, Team Stronach officially acquired legal personality by depositing the party statutes. Two days later a "basic program" (see above), the team and a logo were presented. In October 2012, BZÖ MPs Christoph Hagen and Stefan Markowitz also joined the team. With Markowitz, the fifth MP elected on the BZÖ list, joined the Stronach team, whereupon the party announced that it wanted to apply for club status . This was granted to her in the National Council meeting on November 8th, retrospectively to October 30th, 2012. In March 2013 it became known that Martina Schenk (BZÖ) was also moving to TS. Elisabeth Kaufmann-Bruckberger and Gerhard Köfer, on the other hand, resigned their mandates when they were appointed to the Lower Austrian and Carinthian provincial governments, which means that the party again had exactly five seats in the National Council from April 2013.

In the National Council election on September 29, 2013, the Stronach team received 5.7% of the votes and moved into the National Council with 11 members. The result was well below our own expectations. In the media, this was mainly attributed to Frank Stronach's TV appearances. Among other things, the advocacy of the reintroduction of the death penalty for professional killers caused a stir. Disappointed with the result, Stronach announced his withdrawal from politics in October 2013. Stronach resigned his mandate from the National Council at the end of January 2014, and it was transferred to the Burgenlander Rouven Ertlschweiger . Stronach had only attended two meetings of the National Council.

At the end of November 2014, the Stronach team was one percent in nationwide polls.

In June 2015, the two members of the National Council, Marcus Franz and Georg Vetter, switched to the ÖVP. In August 2015, two other members of the National Council, Kathrin Nachbaur and Rouven Ertlschweiger , moved from the Stronach team to the ÖVP club. The MP Jessi Lintl also left the Stronach team in August 2015, but only stayed as a non-attached MP in the National Council, shortly after which she switched to the FPÖ.

On June 3, 2016, Frank Stronach announced that he no longer wanted to run for the next National Council election for reasons of age . His name would also no longer appear in this election. However, he would continue to be available as chairman until the election. Club chairman Robert Lugar announced that the party would run under a new name in the next national elections. However, at the end of June 2017, Team Stronach's parliamentary club announced that it would no longer stand as a candidate in the National Council election in October 2017. The party should be dissolved by the end of 2017. At the beginning of August 2017, club chairman Robert Lugar and MP Martina Schenk resigned from the Stronach team, leaving the party with only four MPs and thus losing club status in parliament. Schenk immediately switched to the Free List Austria (FLÖ), Lugar was presented by Heinz-Christian Strache as a candidate for the FPÖ federal list for the 2017 National Council election just two days after leaving the Stronach team . This caused quite a stir, as Strache had stamped Lugar with a "Once a traitor, always a traitor" in 2012, after he had changed sides again as a former FPÖ functionary when he switched to the Stronach team.

elections

State elections 2013

Previous

elections

15%

10%

5%

0%

K 13

Lower Austria 13

T 13

S 13

Ö 13

St 15

The party stood for the first time in the regional elections in Carinthia and Lower Austria on March 3, 2013. The top candidates in Carinthia were Gerhard Köfer and in Lower Austria Frank Stronach himself. In Carinthia she achieved 11.3% of the votes and thus four seats in the Carinthian state parliament and one in the provincial government (formed by proportional representation ), in Lower Austria 9.8%, five seats in the Lower Austrian state parliament as well as one in the state government. In the state elections in Tyrol on April 28th, in which Hans-Peter Mayr was the top candidate, it reached 3.4% and thus missed entry into the state parliament. In the Salzburg state elections on May 5, the team with top candidate Hans Mayr received 8.3% of the vote, which corresponds to three seats in the Salzburg state parliament .

National Council election 2013

The Stronach team also competed in the 2013 National Council election. While it was continuously between 8 and 12% in the polls for the National Council election up to the summer of 2013, in the election on September 29, 2013, with 5.7% and 11 seats, it was well below our own expectations. In the media, this was mainly attributed to Frank Stronach's TV appearances, who was absent-minded and also showed no clue about essential points. The four percent hurdle was nevertheless jumped and the party thus entered the National Council.

Team Stronach's election campaign costs were around 13.5 million euros, seven million euros were allowed. The Stronach team faced a fine of up to 1.1 million euros for exceeding the limit. With 268,679 voters, this corresponds to 50.2 euros per vote. The Stronach team thus spent around 40 euros more per vote than all other campaigning parties, whose costs were between 5.8 and 10.7 euros per vote. The ÖVP and SPÖ also exceeded the election campaign costs, the ÖVP by four million euros, the SPÖ by 326,000 euros.

Elections 2014

In the Salzburg municipal council elections in 2014, the Stronach team competed in five municipalities, using the * municipality name * pattern on the ballot papers . In Seekirchen it was called Free Voters Seekirchen and made it into the municipal council with 11 percent and three candidates.

In April 2014, the Stronach team announced that they would not stand in the European Parliament elections in May 2014 and the regional elections in Vorarlberg in autumn 2014.

Elections 2015

On December 17, 2014, the Stronach team announced that they would not be running in any of the 570 municipalities in any of the 570 municipalities in the municipal council elections in Lower Austria on January 25, 2015. In the municipal council and mayoral elections in Carinthia in 2015 , the Stronach team ran in five municipalities as a separate list and in three other municipalities in cooperation with lists of names.

In the state elections in Styria in 2015 , the Stronach team received 1.74 percent of the vote. Wolfgang Auer was originally intended to be the top candidate, but he was replaced by Josef Kaltenegger, which Auer learned from the press release.

In the state elections in Burgenland in 2015 , the Stronach team joined the Burgenland list , which was drawn into the state parliament in 2010, under the name Bündnis Liste Burgenland , the alliance received 4.82 percent of the votes and moved back into the state parliament.

In the state elections in Upper Austria in 2015 on September 27, the Stronach team did not take part, the Upper Austria state party was dissolved at the end of August 2015.

In August 2015, the Stronach team announced that they would not be standing for the state and municipal council elections in Vienna in 2015 in favor of a new, non-party list . With the support of five members of the National Council, including TS club chairman Robert Lugar, the new platform did not require any signatures. The BZÖ also supported the list.

electorate

Werner Beutelmeyer from the Market Institute sketched the “typical Stronach voter” for ORF in 2013. He is male, younger to middle-aged, middle-income, manual worker, skilled worker or employee. The most recent results came from a “memo mentality”. It doesn't bother voters that the content and program are still missing.

According to a survey by the polling institute SORA , an above-average number of workers and self-employed people voted for the Stronach team in the 2013 National Council election.

organization

The chairman (party chairman) of the team was Frank Stronach, who, according to the party statutes, “represented the party to the outside world”. His deputy was Robert Lugar until October 2013. Kathrin Nachbaur held this position from October 2013 until her resignation as vice party leader in November 2014 . From February to May 2015, Wolfgang Auer was deputy party leader. A successor was not elected.

Robert Lugar was also the chairman of the “Parliamentary Club Team Stronach” until the 2013 election; from October 29, 2013, Kathrin Nachbaur was the chairwoman of the parliamentary club, and Waltraud Dietrich was the managing director . From February 2015, Waltraud Dietrich ran the parliamentary club alone. On August 4, 2015, Robert Lugar took over the role of club chairman again. The club director is Christine Weber.

In addition to Lugar and Dietrich, Christoph Hagen , Martina Schenk , Leo Steinbichler , Ulla Weigerstorfer and Gerald Zelina also belonged to the “team” (to a certain extent the party executive) .

All members belonged to independent regional groups ( Team Carinthia etc.). The federal party had its seat at Reichsratsstrasse 3 in Vienna, directly behind the parliament building . Around 30 employees worked here.

Federal states

In Carinthia, Gerhard Köfer had been a member of the state government of Kaiser I since March 2013 as regional councilor for road construction and fishing . The team was represented by four members in the local state parliament. The club chairman was Hartmut Prasch , while Isabella Theuermann , Siegfried Schalli and Alois Dolinar took on the remaining mandates . Since December 2014 the Stronach team has been performing for Carinthia under the name Team Kärnten . In October 2016, the Carinthia team declared itself independent after repaying all financial liabilities to founder Frank Stronach.

The top candidate in the Tyrolean state elections on April 28, 2013 was Hans-Peter Mayr, but failed to make it into the state parliament. At the end of August 2015, after the regional groups in Tyrol and Vorarlberg were dissolved, the Upper Austrian regional party was also closed.

In the Salzburg state elections in May 2013, Hans Mayr was the top candidate. From June 2013 he was State Councilor for Transport, Infrastructure and Housing in the State Government of Haslauer jun. I . In December 2015, the ÖVP and the Greens announced that they would continue the coalition in the state government with the non-partisan state councilor Hans Mayr, but without the Stronach Salzburg team. The only member of the state parliament was club chairman Helmut Naderer . The two MPs Otto Konrad and Gabriele Fürhapter left the party.

In Lower Austria, the Stronach team moved into the state parliament in 2013 as the Frank list party . From April 2013 to April 2015, Elisabeth Kaufmann-Bruckberger was regional councilor for building law, events, asylum and the employment of foreigners in the regional government of Pröll VI . Tillmann Fuchs succeeded her in this role , but lost responsibility for the asylum system. As club chairman in the state parliament, where the Stronach team was represented by five members, Ernest Gabmann junior acts for a short time at the beginning of the legislative period and from June 2013 . The other MPs were or are Walter Laki , club chairman from April to June 2013, Gabriele Von Gimborn , Herbert Machacek and Walter Naderer . Due to internal disputes, the new Lower Austria team , which included Machacek, Gabmann and Naderer, split off from the FRANK list at the end of 2013 from the regional organization Team Stronach Niederösterreich . Naderer left this in April 2015 and became a non-attached MP.

financing

According to party representatives, apart from the funds from founder Frank Stronach, no donations should be accepted. The party should nevertheless be financially well positioned in order to become “the strongest party in Austria”. According to the Court of Auditors , Stronach had made a total of 21,069,000 euros available to the party through large donations by the end of 2013 . According to media reports, Stronach could support the party with up to 25 million euros. In addition to the major donation of around 20 million euros, Stronach also granted the party a loan of over 10 million euros, part of which the party founder had waived.

When the club status was granted, the Stronach team also received the associated club funding from the National Council, for 2012 around 1.4 million euros.

Web links

• Website of Team Stronach for Austria
• Basic program ( Memento of October 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ More money for the parties. In: Wiener Zeitung . January 3, 2017, accessed January 3, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ORF.at November 24, 2014
3. ↑ 30 pages "Basic Program" , DerStandard.at , September 27, 2012. Accessed on September 29, 2012.
4. ↑ Billionaire founds Euro-critical party , FAZ.net , September 27, 2012. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
5. ↑ Parliament correspondence No. 896 , November 12, 2012, parlament.gv.at
6. ↑ Statute of the Federal Party ( Memento of December 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ Stijnvan boiler: populist parties in Europe. Agents of Discontent? Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (Hampshire) / New York 2015, pp. 35, 71.
8. ↑ Seven months later: Stronach has a party program , DiePresse.com, April 9, 2013. Accessed April 9, 2013.
9. ^ The cornerstones of Stronach's basic program , DiePresse.com, September 27, 2012. Accessed on September 28, 2012.
10. ↑ Stronach can be selected by almost every third party , Kurier Online, September 8, 2012. Accessed September 25, 2012.
11. ↑ Austria now officially has a Stronach party , DiePresse.com , September 25, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
12. ↑ ^{a b} Team Stronach recognized as a club , DiePresse.com, November 8, 2012. Accessed November 14, 2012
13. ↑ Team Stronach gets BZÖ MP Schenk . The press. March 15, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
14. ↑ derStandard.at - Stronach wants the death penalty for professional killers . Article dated September 4, 2013, accessed November 22, 2014.
15. ^ Austrian politician Stronach: The billionaire no longer wants. spiegel.de, October 23, 2013, accessed on October 23, 2013 . 
16. ↑ derStandard.at - Frank Stronach resigns from his mandate. derStandard.at, January 28, 2014, accessed on November 21, 2014 . 
17. ↑ Faymann and the SPÖ before the party congress in the low survey on http://derstandard.at/ , 23 November 2014; Retrieved November 25, 2014
18. ^ Stronach MPs Franz and Vetter run over to the ÖVP. In: diePresse.com. June 3, 2015, accessed June 4, 2015 . 
19. ↑ derstandard.at - FPÖ-Klub takes ex-Stronacherin Lintl on article of December 23, 2015, accessed on December 30, 2015.
20. ↑ "Name 'Stronach' will not appear". In: orf.at. June 3, 2016, accessed June 4, 2016 . 
21. ↑ derStandard.at: Team Stronach no longer runs for election to the National Council . Article dated June 27, 2017, accessed June 27, 2017.
22. ↑ Also no renaming. ORF, June 27, 2017, accessed on the same day.
23. ↑ derStandard.at: Lugar and Schenk resign, Team Stronach loses club status . Article dated August 9, 2017, accessed August 13, 2017.
24. ↑ derStandard.at: Strache presents FPÖ federal list with Lugar in eighth place . Article dated August 11, 2017, accessed August 13, 2017.
25. ↑ derStandard.at: Political defectors: From love to betrayal . Article dated August 13, 2017, accessed August 13, 2017.
26. ↑ [http://www.vol.at/kaernten-wahl-machtwechsel-nach-totalabsturz-der-fpk-spoe-wahlsieger/3506508After Carinthia election: FPK before conversion] (link not available)
27. ↑ Red wins, blue crumbles , kurier.at, March 4, 2013. Retrieved on March 4, 2013.
28. ↑ derStandard.at - Team Stronach faces a fine of millions due to the 2013 election campaign . Article dated October 19, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014.
29. ↑ derStandard.at - Election campaign costs: Team Stronach spent 50 euros per vote . Article dated October 28, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014.
30. ↑ derStandard.at - ÖVP exceeded the cost limit by four million euros . Article dated October 27, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014.
31. ↑ Team Stronach disappointed with performance. In: salzburg.orf.at. March 10, 2014, accessed March 25, 2014 . 
32. ^ Nachbaur: “The Neos are a modern men's club.” Der Standard, April 8, 2014, accessed on April 9, 2014.
33. ↑ Team Stronach does not run in state elections. orf.at, April 9, 2014, accessed April 9, 2014.
34. ↑ derStandard.at - Lower Austria: Team Stronach does not take part in municipal council elections . Article dated December 17, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014.
35. ↑ State elections 2015, Styria overall: final result . Retrieved June 12, 2015.
36. ↑ derStandard.at - Stronach top candidate Auer exchanged without his knowledge . APA notification dated April 21, 2015, accessed April 21, 2015.
37. ↑ Burgenland People's Newspaper: Alliance List Burgenland wants to "clear out" . Article dated April 9, 2015, accessed June 12, 2015.
38. ↑ ^{a b} orf.at - Team Stronach closes state party . Article dated July 24, 2015, accessed July 24, 2015.
39. ↑ ^{a b} orf.at - Team Stronach has disbanded . Article 25 August 2015, accessed 25 August 2015.
40. ↑ orf.at - Team Stronach supports the “smoking party” - BZÖ is also part of the platform . Article dated August 10, 2015, accessed August 10, 2015.
41. ↑ Werner Beutelmeyer in the ZIB2 interview on March 5, 2013 on the state elections in Carinthia and Lower Austria
42. ↑ Graphic: Voting behavior according to gender, age and occupation Die Presse.com, September 30, 2013.
43. ^ Robert Lugar: "Four additional MPs until the next election" , DiePresse.com, October 22, 2012. Accessed November 2, 2012.
44. ↑ derStandard.at - Team Stronach: Nachbaur leaves the party . Article dated November 21, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014.
45. ↑ derStandard.at - Team Stronach still without a "strong man" . Article dated December 9, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014.
46. ↑ derStandard.at: Team Stronach: Auer voted out of office as deputy boss, successor not in sight . Article dated May 6, 2015, accessed May 30, 2015.
47. ↑ Parliament Republic of Austria: Dr. Kathrin Nachbaur, biography. Retrieved April 2, 2013 . 
48. ^ Kurier - Stronach cuts replica 140,000 euro fee . Article dated November 21, 2014, accessed November 21, 2014.
49. ↑ derStandard.at - Team Stronach: Nachbaur only stays until March . Article dated November 25, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014.
50. ↑ orf.at: handover with rucksack . Article dated August 4, 2015, accessed August 4, 2015
51. ^ Parliament Club Team Stronach . Retrieved December 18, 2014.
52. ↑ Team ( Memento from March 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), teamstronach.at
53. ^ DerStandard.at - Carinthian Team Stronach appears as "Team Carinthia" . Article dated December 4, 2014, accessed December 4, 2014.
54. ↑ Carinthian Team Stronach from now on "Free Team Carinthia". In: The Standard . October 1, 2016, accessed October 21, 2017 . 
55. ↑ Hans-Peter Mayr was of no use to Listencoup. In: Wiener Zeitung. April 28, 2013, archived from the original on May 3, 2013 ; accessed on October 21, 2017 . 
56. ↑ ÖVP and Greens continue coalition without Stronach team
57. ↑ orf.at - Other MPs leave the Stronach team . Article from January 7, 2016, accessed on January 7, 2016.
58. ↑ The rise and fall of the TS. ORF , June 27, 2017, accessed on October 21, 2017 . 
59. ↑ Lower Austria: Team Stronach further split. In: The Standard . April 30, 2015, accessed October 21, 2017 . 
60. ^ Party donations ( Memento from December 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
61. ↑ Stronach transfers one million euros to the party , DiePresse.com, November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
62. ↑ Stronach gets money back from the party. In: ORF . April 25, 2018, accessed May 1, 2018 .