NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum

NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum (German: NEOS – Das Neue Österreich und Liberales Forum) is a liberal[1][2] political party in Austria. It was founded as NEOS – The New Austria in 2012. In 2014, NEOS merged with Liberal Forum and adopted its current name.

NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum NEOS - Das Neue Österreich und Liberales Forum
Abbreviation	NEOS
Chairwoman	Beate Meinl-Reisinger
Secretary-General	Nikola Donig
Parliamentary leader	Beate Meinl-Reisinger
Managing director	Stefan Egger
Founded	27 October 2012 (NEOS) 25 January 2014 (merger)
Merger of	NEOS, LiF, JuLis
Headquarters	Vienna
Youth wing	JUNOS – Young liberal NEOS
Ideology	Liberalism[1][2] Economic liberalism[3][4] Social liberalism[5] European federalism[5]
Political position	Centre[6][7][8][9]
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe[10]
International affiliation	Liberal International (Observer)[11]
European Parliament group	Renew Europe
Colours	Pink
National Council	15 / 183
Federal Council	1 / 61
Governorships	0 / 9
State cabinets	2 / 9
State diets	21 / 440
European Parliament	1 / 19
Website
neos.eu
Politics of Austria Political parties Elections

Since 2018, NEOS's chairwoman and parliamentary leader has been Beate Meinl-Reisinger. It is the smallest party in the National Council with 15 seats, and won 8.3% in the 2019 legislative election. NEOS is represented in six of Austria's nine state legislatures, and is involved in government in Salzburg and Vienna. NEOS is a member of the ALDE Party, and its one MEP sits with the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament.

History

NEOS – The New Austria held its founding convention on 27 October 2012. Political advisor Matthias Strolz was elected chairman with 96.2% of votes. He stated the party would "counter stagnation and corruption in Austrian politics", and that it was an alternative for moderate voters disillusioned with the ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). He stated the party's goal for the next federal election was to win over 10% of votes. Upon its foundation, the party claimed a membership of 350.[12][13] In January 2013, it reportedly had over 1,000 members.[14]

2013 legislative election

In March 2013, NEOS formed an alliance with the Liberal Forum and JuLis – Young Liberals Austria, operating under the NEOS brand.[15][16] In April, the party conducted its first public primaries to determine its federal list for the upcoming election. Voters were divided into three groups – the general public, the party board, and NEOS members – and each group's votes were weighted equally. There were 64 candidates, who were not required to be NEOS members. 1,561 people voted in the primaries.[17] The final composition of the NEOS federal list was announced on 1 May 2013.[18]

On 13 July, NEOS announced it had gathered 3,100 signatures for the upcoming election, exceeding the 2,600 required to appear on ballots nationwide.[19] On 5 September, industrialist, former Liberal Forum politician, and NEOS financier Hans Peter Haselsteiner began campaigning for the party.[20]

In the 29 September legislative election, NEOS competed under the name "NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum", with the short name "NEOS". The list won 4.96% of votes cast and nine seats, becoming the smallest of six parties in the National Council.[21]

Merger with the Liberal Forum

After their success in the 2013 election, NEOS and Liberal Forum agreed to merge into a single party. The merger was approved at a joint conference on 25 January 2014, where Strolz was re-elected chairman with 98.7% of votes. Liberal Forum leader Angelika Mlinar and NEOS leader in Vienna Beate Meinl-Reisinger were elected as deputy leaders. The united party officially adopted the name "NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum".[22][23] On 22 March, JuLis – Young Liberals Austria voted 98.7% in favour of merging into NEOS. It was renamed to "JUNOS – Young liberal NEOS", and became NEOS's youth wing.[24]

NEOS performed well in municipal elections in Salzburg on 9 March 2014. The party won 12.4% of votes in the city of Salzburg, placing fourth and securing five seats on the council.[25]

As with the 2013 federal election, NEOS held open primaries to determine its candidates for the 2014 European elections. On 15 February, deputy party chairwoman Angelika Mlinar was elected as the top candidate. Ahead of the elections, NEOS became a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.[10] NEOS carried out a strongly pro-European campaign for the election, with the slogan "I love Europe".[26] In the election on 25 May, NEOS won 8.14% of votes and one of Austria's 18 seats.[27] Though a significant improvement on the 2013 federal election, this result was below expectations, as polling had indicated NEOS would exceed 10%. After the election, Milnar joined the ALDE group in the European Parliament.

In December 2013, NEOS announced its intention to run in the 2014 Vorarlberg state election. As the home state of chairman Strolz, NEOS was considered to have strong potential there.[28] In the lead-up to the election, the procedure for the open primaries was modified due to a security issue which allowed two ex-members to vote multiple times in the online component of the primaries.[29] The state election took place on 13 October, and NEOS achieved a disappointing result of 6.89% and two seats. This deprived NEOS of parliamentary group status in the Vorarlberg Landtag, which requires three seats.[30]

The first elections in 2015 were the municipal elections in Lower Austria, which took place on 25 January. NEOS ran in 43 municipalities, primarily those around Vienna with a predominantly urban population. In Guntramsdorf, NEOS joined a coalition with the SPÖ and the Greens. Elisabeth Manz thus became the first NEOS Vice Mayor in Austria. NEOS won 36 seats overall, achieving its best result in Pyhra in the Sankt Pölten-Land District, where it won 18.08% of votes.[31]

NEOS suffered a setback in the Burgenland and Styria state elections, both held on 31 May, failing to enter either Landtag. The party won just 2.33% of votes in Burgenland and 2.64% in Styria.[32] They likewise failed to wins seat in the Upper Austrian state election on 27 September, falling short of the threshold with 3.47% of votes.[33]

In February, federal deputy leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger was confirmed as NEOS's top candidate for the Vienna state election, which took place on 11 October.[34] NEOS won 6.16% of vote, thus entering its second state parliament. With five seats, it became the smallest parliamentary group.[35]

In the 2016 presidential election, NEOS declined to specifically endorse any candidate, instead providing "selective support" to both Alexander van der Bellen of the Greens and independent Irmgard Griss.[36][37][38] Strolz stated, "The ideal runoff would be Irmgard Griss against Alexander Van der Bellen."[39] Van der Bellen and Griss placed second and third in the first round of the presidential election, winning 21.3% and 18.9% of votes respectively. Van der Bellen thus advanced to the second round against the FPÖ's Norbert Hofer. After the initial results of the second round were annulled, van der Bellen won 53.8% to 46.2% in the re-run.[40]

In the February 2017 municipal elections in Graz, Austria's second largest city, NEOS won 3.94% of votes and one seat.[41]

In March 2017, NEOS member Christoph Vavrik faced harsh criticism for a homophobic Facebook post he had made in November of the previous year. Under pressure from his party, he agreed to resign from the National Council, but instead unexpectedly defected to the ÖVP group on 30 March. He claimed the move was caused by "increasing estrangement between NEOS and I." The NEOS group was thus reduced to eight deputies.[42]

2017 legislative election

A snap legislative election was called in May 2017 and set for October. On 7 July, NEOS announced that former presidential candidate Irmgard Griss was joining the NEOS list for the election, and would receive second place on the federal list behind Strolz; however, she did not join the party, and remained an independent. The list ran under the full name "NEOS - The New Austria in common with Irmgard Griss, Citizens for Freedom and Responsibility", with the short name "NEOS".[43] NEOS again held public primaries for their federal list, in which over 3,500 people voted; Strolz was elected top candidate, while deputy leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger was third, Gerald Loacker fourth, and Sepp Schellhorn fifth.[44]

NEOS won 5.30% of votes in the election on 15 October, a marginal increase from 2013.[45] The list won ten seats in total, all of which were filled by NEOS members with the exception of Irmgard Griss, who remained an independent within the NEOS group. Due to the collapse of the Greens, the NEOS group became the fourth largest in the National Council.

In October 2017, NEOS announced it would run in the upcoming state elections in Lower Austria, Tyrol, and Salzburg.[46] In November, they announced they would contest the state election in Carinthia in an electoral alliance with regional citizens' movement "My Southern Carinthia - Moja Juzna Koroska".[47]

In the Lower Austrian state election on 28 January 2018, NEOS entered the Landtag with 5.15% of votes and three seats.[48] A month later on 25 February, the party won 5.21% and two seats in Tyrol.[49] However, in the Carinthian state election on 4 March, the NEOS alliance fell well short of the electoral threshold, winning just 2.14% of votes.[50]

The party achieved major success in the Salzburg state election on 22 April, winning 7.27% of votes and three seats under lead candidate Sepp Schellhorn. It thus became represented in a majority of state legislatures.[51] Subsequently, NEOS entered into coalition negotiations with the ÖVP, which placed first in the election, and the Greens. The negotiations were ultimately successful, and NEOS became part of a state government for the first time. It was dubbed the "Dirndl coalition", after a traditional dress which is coloured similarly to the parties involved (black, green, and pink).[52] Andrea Klambauer became NEOS's first state cabinet member, serving as Minister for Housing, Childcare, Families, Science, Adult Education, Women, Equal Opportunity, Generations, and Integration.[53]

New leadership

On 7 May 2018, Matthias Strolz unexpectedly announced that he would resign as NEOS chairman at the end of June 2018, and resign from the National Council in autumn.[54] At a party meeting on 23 June 2018, federal deputy leader and Vienna branch chairwoman Beate Meinl-Reisinger was elected Strolz's successor with 94.8% of votes. After her election, she emphasised her commitment to human rights, pro-Europeanism, consensus-seeking, and opposition to authoritarianism, politicisation of civil society, and political polarisation. Nikolaus Scherak and Sepp Schellhorn were elected as the party's new deputy leaders.[55] After his resignation, Meinl-Reisinger took Strolz's seat in the National Council and became the party's parliamentary leader.

In March 2019, NEOS announced that former Greens managing director Robert Luschnik would take over as federal managing director in July.[56]

In the 2019 European elections, NEOS ran under the name "NEOS – The New Europe". Their top candidate was National Council deputy Claudia Gamon. NEOS won 8.44% of votes cast, retaining their single MEP. The party gained 90,000 votes compared to 2014, but due to dramatically increased turnout, only experienced a 0.30% increase in vote share.[57][58]

2019 legislative election

A snap legislative election was called in May 2019 and set for September. In the lead-up, NEOS announced an alliance with Helmut Brandstätter, former editor of Kurier, who was placed second on the federal list. A day before the announcement, Brandstätter published Kurz & Kickl - Their Game with Power and Fear, a book detailing his perspective on the outgoing ÖVP–FPÖ government.[59] Irmgard Griss announced she would not seek re-election to the National Council, citing age and the time commitment necessary to serve. She stated she would still support NEOS.[60]

NEOS won 8.10% of votes cast in the election on 29 September, a 2.8 percentage point increase from 2017. This increased the size of the NEOS parliamentary group by half, from 10 seats to 15.[61]

In the Vorarlberg state election two weeks after the legislative election, NEOS won 8.51% of votes cast, an increase of 1.6%. Importantly, the party gained one seat for a total of three, allowing them to form a parliamentary group for the first time.[62]

In the 2020 Burgenland state election on 26 January, NEOS again failed to enter the Landtag. They won 1.71% of votes, a decline of 0.62% from 2015.[63]

NEOS achieved a major success in the October 2020 Viennese state election. Under the leadership of Christoph Wiederkehr, the party won 7.47% of votes cast. While this was only a small improvement from 2015, due to reform to the electoral system, their parliamentary group increased from five seats to eight.[64] The SPÖ, which won 46 of 100 seats in the election, could form a majority government with NEOS; this was considered a serious possibility, and NEOS took part in exploratory talks alongside other parties later that month.[65] On 27 October, SPÖ mayor Michael Ludwig announced that he will seek a coalition agreement with NEOS.[66] Negotiations were successful, and the government was sworn in on 24 November. Wiederkehr became Vice Mayor of Vienna and city councillor for education.[67]

Ideology and policies

In a 2016 analysis by the University of Vienna, political scientists David Johann, Marcelo Jenny, and Sylvia Kritzinger described NEOS as a "classic party of the centre". The authors placed the party's program and electorate as between those of the ÖVP and Greens. They noted overlap with the ÖVP in economic and tax policy, and with the Greens in social and education policy. NEOS voters, even in surveys on a simple left-right scale, were very similar to ÖVP voters; mostly in the centre of the political spectrum, though with a slight tendency to the left compared to ÖVP voters. By locating NEOS between the ÖVP and the Greens across different policy areas, they stated the party can "be seen as representing a modern, liberal affluence."[7]

In its party statute, NEOS describes itself as a democratic movement that "represent[s] a political culture of respect, in which readiness for discussion, undogmatic solution orientation and freedom of expression count as well as transparency and the participation of people in all processes of opinion formation." The party commits itself to democracy, rule of law, and environmentally sustainable free market economics; freedom, personal responsibility, sincerity, equal opportunities, fairness, fraternity and sustainability, and diversity. The statute cites the goal of "bring[ing] the country back together with the citizens, to bring a new style and new forms of participation into politics."[68]

Program

In its 2019 election program, NEOS identifies four key policy areas:[69]

• Sustainability (Nachhaltigkeit): action against climate change, a carbon tax, international environmental law, development of the green economy, reform to pensions, and protection of the constitutional order.
• Relief (Entlastung): lowering the tax rate below 40%, introducing flat tax, reducing red tape for businesses, reducing public expenditure, improving childcare, and providing greater access to private healthcare.
• Openness (Offenheit): reducing public funding for political parties, strengthening party auditing, protecting privacy, implementing direct democracy via public forums, promoting pro-Europeanism, and encouraging skilled immigration.
• Education (Schule): improving standards and funding for kindergarten, giving schools greater autonomy in determining curriculum, improving graduation rates, and fostering the skills and interest of students.

Organisation

Leaders

Portrait		Name	Term start	Term end	Deputies
		Matthias Strolz (born 1973)	27 October 2012	23 June 2018	Angelika Mlinar Beate Meinl-Reisinger
		Beate Meinl-Reisinger (born 1978)	23 June 2018	Incumbent	Nikolaus Scherak Sepp Schellhorn

Structure

The highest organ of NEOS is the party congress, which elects the party leadership, including the board of directors, and is responsible for operational management. Unlike other parties, NEOS holds general meetings of its membership several times a year in order to involve party members in the decision-making process. The party's policy positions are developed by "topic groups", open to non-party members, and public forums can be held to further involve citizens and experts in shaping policy. The party allows people to participate in most of these forums online. In order to gather additional input, feedback on party positions may be sent in before general meetings via application.[68][70] The party's state organisations are integrated with the federal party, and are not independent state parties. However, there are regional teams for each state, including a regional spokesperson who coordinates activity in their state.[68]

Finances

As a party represented in the National Council, NEOS is the receipient of substantial public funding. After the 2013 legislative election, it received a total of around €4.9 million per year.[71] Prior to entering the National Council, the party was financed exclusively through donations. The party's donors were listed online; originally, they did not accept anonymous donations, the proceeds of which were passed on to charitable organisations. In addition to up to 2,200 small donors, the party has received financial backing from wealthier patrons. Industrialist and former Liberal Forum politician Hans Peter Haselsteiner donated €200,000 to NEOS in the first half of 2013.[72] NEOS publishes all income and expenses on a dedicated "Transparency" section of its website.[73]

Election results

National Council

Year	Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Status
2013	232,946 (6th)	4.96	New	9 / 183	New	in opposition
2017	268,518 (4th)	5.30	0.34	10 / 183	1	in opposition
2019	387,124 (5th)	8.10	2.80	15 / 183	5	in opposition

European Parliament

Year	Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
2014	229,781 (5th)	8.14	New	1 / 18	New
2019	319,024 (5th)	8.44	0.30	1 / 18	0

State Parliaments

State	Year	Votes	%	Seats			Government
				No.	+/-	Pos.
Burgenland	2020	3,177	1.7 (5th)	0 / 36	0	5th	Extra-parliamentary
Carinthia	2018	6,307	2.1 (6th)	0 / 36	New	6th	Extra-parliamentary
Lower Austria	2018	46,801	5.2 (5th)	3 / 56	New	5th	Opposition
Salzburg	2018	18,225	7.3 (5th)	3 / 36	New	5th	ÖVP–Grüne–NEOS
Styria	2019	32,346	5.4 (6th)	2 / 48	2	6th	Opposition
Tyrol	2018	16,670	5.2 (6th)	2 / 36	New	6th	Opposition
Upper Austria	2015	30,201	3.5 (5th)	0 / 56	New	5th	Extra-parliamentary
Vienna	2020	54,173	7.5 (4th)	8 / 100	3	4th	SPÖ–NEOS
Vorarlberg	2019	14,064	8.5 (5th)	3 / 36	1	5th	Opposition

References

1. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Austria". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
2. Oliver Gruber (2014). Campaigning in Radical Right Heartland: The politicization of immigration and ethnic relations in Austrian general elections, 1971-2013. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 83. ISBN 978-3-643-90517-8.
3. Jones, Sam (26 September 2019). "Austria polls point to second chance for Kurz after far-right setback". Financial Times. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
4. Mayr, Walter (19 September 2019). "Comeback for Kurz? Austria's Youngest-Ever Chancellor Eyes a Return". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
5. Laurenz Ennser-Jedenastik; Anita Bodlos (2019). "Liberal parties in Austria". In Emilie van Haute; Caroline Close (eds.). Liberal Parties in Europe. Taylor & Francis. pp. 137–142. ISBN 978-1-351-24549-4.
6. David Johann, Marcelo Jenny, Sylvia Kritzinger, "Mehr Wettbewerb bei Österreichs Wahlen? Die neue Partei NEOS und ihre engsten Konkurrenten", Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen (ZParl), 47 (4/2016), doi:10.5771/0340-1758-2016-4-814CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
7. Johann, David; Jenny, Marcelo; Kritzinger, Sylvia. "More competition in Austria's elections? The new party NEOS and its closest competitors*". Nomos eLibrary.
8. "Austria". Center for Strategic and International Studies. 15 October 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
9. Shields, Michael (8 November 2013). "Fasting Austrian politician challenges stodgy status quo". Reuters.
10. "Member Pairtes". ALDE Party.
11. "Das Neue Österreich und Liberales Forum (NEOS)".
12. "New party NEOS holds founding convention". Die Presse. 27 October 2012.
13. "The "Neo"-Liberals". Die Presse. 18 October 2012.
14. "Pirates, Neos, and other angry citizens". Der Standard. 18 January 2013.
15. "The Neos: New party with green support". Die Presse. 12 March 2013.
16. Tom Lansford (7 April 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. SAGE Publications. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4833-3327-4.
17. "Neos shake at the parliament gates". Der Standard. 1 May 2013.
18. "Results". NEOS. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013.
19. "Neos have collected sufficient declarations of support". Der Standard. 19 July 2013.
20. "NEOS sends Haselsteiner into the election race". ORF. 5 September 2013.
21. "Nationalratswahl 2013". Austrian Interior Ministry.
22. "United NEOS or the end of the Liberal Forum". Die Presse. 25 January 2014.
23. "Merger of NEOS and LIF confirmed". ORF. 25 January 2014.
24. "Julis are now called Junos and are part of the Neos". Der Standard. 22 March 2014.
25. "Voters on the move: Neos in Salzburg city doubled". Kurier. 10 March 2014.
26. "EU election: Angelika Mlinar is a top Neos candidate". Der Standard. 15 February 2014.
27. "Europawahl 2014". Austrian Interior Ministry.
28. "Neos want to run in Vorarlberg election". Der Standard. 17 December 2013.
29. ""Abuse": Neos suspend online primaries". Die Presse. 28 May 2014.
30. "No longer land absolutely black, but greener and a little pink". Tiroler Tageszeitung. 13 October 2014.
31. "The strongholds of the parties". ORF. 26 January 2015.
32. "Strolz: "Certainly no turbo was ignited today"". Die Presse. 31 May 2015.
33. "Strolz: "Dying power cartel, the new is not yet there"". Die Presse. 27 September 2015.
34. "Vienna election: Meinl-Reisinger confirmed as top Neos candidate". Der Standard. 28 February 2015.
35. "Neos relieved: "We did it"". Kurier. 11 October 2015.
36. "100,000 euros: first major donation for Griss' campaign". Der Standard. 18 December 2015.
37. "NEOS welcomes Griss candidacy to the Federal President "extraordinary"". Vienna.at. 18 December 2015.
38. "Neos: "Great sympathy" for Van der Bellen". Die Presse. 8 January 2016.
39. "Neos want to support Griss and Van der Bellen". Nachrichten.at. 9 February 2019.
40. "Bundespräsidentenwahl 2016". Austrian Interior Ministry.
41. "Graz has chosen: Nagl triumph, SPÖ debacle". ORF. 13 February 2017.
42. "Controversial NEOS deputy Vavrik changes to ÖVP". Die Presse. 30 March 2017.
43. "Griss at NEOS in second place on the federal list". ORF. 7 July 2017.
44. "NEOS: Matthias Strolz elected top candidate for 2017 National Council election". Ots.at.
45. "Nationalratswahl 2017". Austrian Interior Ministry.
46. "Neos compete in Salzburg, Tyrol and Lower Austria". Der Standard]. 27 October 2017.
47. "Carinthia election: Neos compete in cooperation with platform". Die Presse. 21 November 2017.
48. "Lower Austria: Mikl-Leitner win Absolute majority with ÖVP; SPÖ before FPÖ; Greens and Neos in the door". Der Standard. 28 January 2018.
49. "Tyrol election: ÖVP wins, Neos and Fritz List move in". Die Presse. 25 February 2018.
50. "NEOS failed due to five percent hurdle". ORF. 4 March 2018.
51. "The Neos reach the club strength on the first attempt". Salzburger Nachrichten. 22 April 2018.
52. "Salzburg election: "Dirndl coalition" is certain". Die Presse. 25 May 2018.
53. "ÖVP, Greens and NEOS: Salzburg coalition fixed". Kronen Zeitung. 25 May 2018.
54. "Handover initiated". ORF. 7 May 2018.
55. "Meinl-Reisinger elected as new Neos chief with 94.7 percent". Der Standard. 23 June 2018.
56. "Robert Luschnik becomes federal manager of the Neos". Der Standard. 25 March 2019.
57. "EU election: 587,000 postal voters brought little change". Die Presse. 27 May 2019.
58. "Europawahl 2019". Austrian Interior Ministry.
59. ""No conforming troop": Brandstätter is running for Neos". Die Presse. 25 July 2019.
60. "Griss is no longer running for National Council". ORF. 20 June 2019.
61. "Nationalratswahl 2019". Austrian Interior Ministry.
62. "NEOS achieve their best result in Vorarlberg". Vol.at. 13 October 2019.
63. "Landtagswahl2020". Burgenland Government.
64. "Gemeinderat election 2020, results of the Vienna Electoral Authority". Viennese Government. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
65. "SPÖ starts explorations: kick-off with NEOS". ORF. 16 October 2020.
66. "Coalition: SPÖ negotiates with NEOS". ORF. 27 October 2020.
67. "New city government is sworn in". ORF. 24 November 2020.
68. "STATUTE" (PDF). NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
69. "Programm". NEOS. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
70. "Austria's Online Party cooperates with Neos". Der Standard. 23 April 2013.
71. "Neos receives almost five million euros in party funding". Der Standard. 4 October 2013.
72. "Neos have already collected 840,000 euros and are competing across Austria". Der Standard. 25 July 2013.
73. "Transparency". NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum. Retrieved 27 July 2020.

External links

• Media related to NEOS – Das Neue Österreich und Liberales Forum at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website