Grosz says BZÖ will not team up with ´hashish LIF´
The Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) heads announcement he wanted to join forces with the Liberal Forum (LIF) has sparked surprise and opposition within the party.BZÖ chief Josef Bucher said yesterday (Thurs) he was waiting to hear back from LIF bosses after making an offer to team up. “I see a voting potential of 18 per cent for a right-wing liberal party on a federal level,” he explained.Christian Ebner, who was named general secretary of the BZÖ earlier this month, claimed today Bucher did not try to form a coalition with the non-parliament LIF. Ebner said Buchers announcement was a bid to garner votes from right-wing voters who supported the LIF in the past.BZÖ Styria chief Gerald Grosz found harsher words. “The BZÖ will not team up with the political corpses of the LIF. We wont join forces with the Communists, the CIA or the FBI either.”Grosz added, referring to a suggestion by former LIF boss Heide Schmidt: “I dont want to deal with Heide Schmidts hashish legalisation consortium.”LIF boss Angelika Mlinar denied having spoken to Bucher about a coalition.”There hasnt been any contact between the BZÖ and the Liberal Forum. We havent been approached by anybody,” Mlinar who announced recently that her party will try to re-enter the Vienna city parliament at the upcoming elections stressed.The LIF, which was founded by five MPs of the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) MPs in 1993, has not been represented in the federal parliament since 1999. The party failed to take the four per cent hurdle to re-enter the parliament at the 2008 elections when it garnered just 2.1 per cent.The BZÖ, which was founded by late FPÖ boss Jörg Haider five years ago, won 10.7 per cent in the 2008 elections with Haider acting as its front runner. Recent polls gave the BZÖ just two to four per cent.