It’s safe to say that the gods of politics have not been favoring European green parties during this campaign period. Not only is the Greens group expected to lose the most seats in the European Parliament after the election, but member parties around Europe have been caught up in some of the most embarrassing scandals as well, from sexual harassment to Russian spying.
The latest episode is currently unfolding in Austria, where a comprehensive investigation undertaken by the local daily Der Standard shed light on the Greens’ number one EU candidate, Lena Schilling, and her problematic relationship with the truth. While the party tries to downplay the allegations to soften the blow of the growing scandal, the police and court documents, confidential chats, as well as dozens of interviews with the victims of Schilling’s intentionally harmful lies tell a different story.
One document to open the rabbit hole
Schilling, a 23-year-old climate activist with no political experience, surprised Austria when the Greens put her, a non-party member, in first place on their EU candidate list. Her name alone was enough, apparently, as she previously worked for several NGOs and advocacy groups, led some of the loudest climate protest movements, and has been described by media as “perhaps the most politically active young woman in the country”—Austria’s very own Greta Thunberg.
However, Schilling’s road to Brussels might not be as smooth as it was to Instagram stardom. The story begins with a court sentence, dated April 12th, 2024, less than two months before the coming EU elections. The document, obtained by Der Standard, shows that Schilling had been served with a cease-and-desist order and forced to pay compensation of €20,000.
To make the story more colorful, the lawsuit in question was brought against her by a former best friend after Schilling claimed that the other woman’s husband beat her up so badly that she suffered a miscarriage. It was nothing but a lie, apparently, yet the Greens’ official statement tried to salvage the situation by saying Schilling only acted “out of concern for a friend,” but is ready to pay the compensation out of her own pocket to show that “she regrets” the harm done by the unfounded allegations.
“Just the tip of the iceberg”
It would have been all over if it was a one-time hiccup, but as you can guess, it wasn’t. The media investigation prompted by the sentence exposed that the wild story is really “just the tip of the iceberg,” as unnamed Green members who’ve known Schilling for some time phrased it.
Weeks of research and over 50 interviews with former friends, colleagues, and victims of her frequent slanders revealed that there are a great deal of people who have been hurt one way or another by Schilling’s compulsive lies. As Der Standard put it:
People who do not know each other and whom Schilling has met in different contexts almost unanimously tell of similar incidents: Schilling has a problematic relationship with the truth, plays people off against each other and leaves scorched earth in her wake.
Invented love affairs and harassment allegations
For one, Schilling has upturned the lives of several journalists and politicians with completely out-of-the-blue allegations, who, at least now, can feel vindicated by her downfall.
For instance, she accused one of the top journalists at an undisclosed private media organization, with whom she had regular professional cooperation, of sexual harassment. The case went up to HR which immediately started an internal investigation, threatening the job and livelihood of the journalist. Luckily, when he handed over all his chats and messages with Schilling to HR, the investigation quickly concluded that the man was innocent. Asked for a comment by Der Standard, the company only said: “We don’t want to talk about that.”
In another case, Schilling allegedly invented an affair between her and a well-known television reporter. Fearing for his reputation, the reporter considered suing Schilling but decided not to, lest he attract even more attention.
Most people who knew Schilling during her activist years, as well as from the student council she once chaired, also recounted some bad memories. They describe how she often played people against each other to cement her position without caring one bit for what she left behind. They also say she took advantage of the trust of younger activists to carefully cultivate an army of followers mesmerized by her charisma.
MP’s mystery resignation
Considering everything that came to light, it’s not surprising that Schilling might have even had a hand in the Austrian Greens’ only scandal these past years that ended with a resignation. In October 2023, the party announced that MP Clemmens Stammler had harassed a young activist in Vienna’s Club U4 and then injured a journalist who tried to intervene on her behalf, prompting his resignation and complete withdrawal from public life.
At the time, the impression was that the victim had been a complete stranger, only for it to emerge that it was actually Lena Schilling, who was already considered to be a top contender for the EU candidate list at the time. Messages between the two also reveal that Schilling regularly contacted Stammler before the event, had a generally good relationship, and it was her who invited him that night to U4. Once in the club, however, she wanted to have nothing to do with him and spoke badly about him to others, the people who were present recalled.
Stammler might have still been guilty, but Schilling’s personality suggests that he might have been provoked all night just for a bit of drama to put her in the spotlight again.
“Not a moral assessment”
While some party members have decried that the scandal has no political dimensions and the opposition is only using Schilling’s private life to dirty the campaign, other Greens think differently.
As a person of public interest who strives to be the leader of the Austrian delegation in Brussels, Schilling is one of the most important representatives of the entire party which has the trust of about half a million voters in the country. Her behavior toward others is no longer a private issue, but a public one of the highest importance, and should be viewed accordingly.
“This is not a moral assessment of Lena’s behavior,” another EU candidate told the paper, but about how she deals with colleagues in a specific political and professional context.
Day by day, the pressure on the party grows to replace Schilling on the candidate list, but playing defensive has so far remained the Greens’ official stance. Still, as a long-time acquaintance of Schilling’s told Der Standard, the stakes have never been higher. “If you don’t pull the emergency brake now, there will be enormous damage: for the Greens, for the climate movement—but especially for Schilling herself.”