This week's collection of whimsical and curious stories will ignore current events (the ongoing Olympic games will be a topic for the next edition) and instead dedicate itself purely to a particularly silly moment in Austrian politics. Connoisseurs of Alpine political drama might know that Austria has recently punched well above its weight in being the source of curious political theatre (e.g., the "Ibiza affair"), however, uncharacteristically this particular story was entirely scandal-free.
A soap opera - It is sometimes worth remembering that the year 2020 also brought good news, especially for the small republic of Austria. An so it was that in January of that year, Austria was getting ready to swear in its new governing coalition of Conservatives and the Green party. With much pomp and circumstance, this event was held within the grandeur of the old imperial palace in Vienna. The ceremony was led by Austrian president Alexander van der Bellen who was about to make Chancellor Sebastian Kurz the world's youngest democratically elected leader (for the second time).
However, thanks to Austria's public broadcaster ORF, this event is worth remembering as probably the greatest moment of television since the moon landing. This was not due to anything remarkable happening during the ceremony itself, but rather due to the TV broadcaster adding the wrong subtitles. Rather than transcribing what was actually said, the ORF mistakenly added subtitles from one of its telenovelas ("Alisa – Follow Your Heart") to create moments of Zen. A small best-of follows:
The president seemed less than thrilled to see Sebastian Kurz form a government for the second time…
…and seemed to offer him the job of a waiter rather than that chancellor
He had an interesting way to greet his cabinet…
… and the new Minister of Defence
There was also insightful political commentary:
Interestingly, a similar glitch happened during a debate in the Swedish parliament where subtitles from a children's show were mixed in. Through the subtitles we learn that the Minister of Education can build "the best sandcastle in the galaxy" and helpfully informs the MPs that "all dinosaurs have different shapes". Here is the link for some extra Monday morning levity.
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Here is a link to an English news article about the Austrian incident (most sources are in German)
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