“April 30th will be an important day. We will make a cash rush and then decide what to do next,” Wlazny replied to a journalist’s question about what would happen if the goal was not achieved. So far they have made a little more than half a million euros – membership costs 59 euros. What is clear, however, is that the members are not primarily needed to run and finance a campaign, but rather “to set up a party that is fit for parliament.” In the next four weeks they want to continue recruiting members, after events in Vienna, Graz and Salzburg and soon in Innsbruck and Linz.
These events serve to “get to know the people who are involved with us”. So many people came to the get-to-know-you in the shelter on Vienna’s Schmelz at the beginning of February that some didn’t even get in. “I would like to apologize for that. Next time we’ll go to the town hall,” said Wlazny optimistically. The crowd was significantly smaller a little over a week ago in Salzburg, where only around 40 interested people took part in Wlazny’s absence.
Teams are currently being formed at the “headquarters in Vienna” to “work out projects”. Wlazny emphasized that they are staffed with experts, but did not want to give any names when asked. The developed projects should then be discussed at one of the “regulars’ tables” that would be established in all 39 regional constituencies.
Wlazny was not satisfied with the media coverage of his party: “It is often said that ‘you don’t even know what the Beer Party stands for’.” Some of the points he already put forward in the election campaign before the 2022 federal presidential election included the fight against old age and child poverty, equal pay for men and women, a “real care reform” and a “healthy health system without a golden credit card”. Wlazny currently publishes a video every Thursday on his YouTube channel in which he speaks under the slogan “Talk about it!” dedicated to one of the topics. Despite multiple crises, it is important to him to point out that “not everything is so bad.” At the end of the press conference, Wlazny emphasized the power of commonality: “What rhymes with beer? Us!”