There can be no traffic light coalition in Austria
The traffic light colors are red, yellow and green. SPÖ, Neos and Greens do not fit into this scheme.
In the beginning was the little bottle. The word for this in the ancient Romans was ampulla – derived from amphora, the two-handled jug. When the term first appeared as an ampulla and later as a traffic light in German-speaking countries, it was also spiritually charged. Because in the Middle Ages, the “eternal light” was called a traffic light in the Catholic churches. Later, the traffic light was also used quite profanely for other pendant lights before it was replaced by the lamp. It may sound like a transposed letter, but linguistically it has a different root, namely from the Greek lampas, meaning torch, which also came into German via Latin and French as a lighting fixture. With that, the story of the traffic light could actually have been over, but then – to repeat that worn-out cliché – it experienced the biggest comeback since Lazarus. Because when the first lights hanging over intersections appeared as traffic controllers, the term traffic light was revived for them. Today it is generally understood as a device that regulates the circulation of colors.
If it weren’t for use in politics as well. Because in Germany, three-party coalitions of SPD (red), FDP (yellow) and Greens (you guessed it…) were also called traffic lights. Variations, for example with the CDU (black), FDP and Greens as slobs, were also invented. And in Austria? Well, many are already talking about a traffic light if there is a collaboration between the SPÖ (red), Neos (pink) and the Greens (you know!) after the election. Alone, red-pink-green are not traffic light colors. Even if this variant is to come, there will at most be something like a dirndl coalition in Austria. Or can you think of another name?
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(“Die Presse”, print edition, 01.08.2022)