Do we like them?

Do we like Alexander Van der Bellen?

Our score: 7 out of 10. Nothing harmful in his own words or acts turned up in what I could open, but I couldn't confirm much of his wider record.

Alexander Van der Bellen is Austria's head of state, and this check has a gap you should know about. The search and page tools hit usage and rate limits partway through, so I couldn't open his full life story or his earlier career. Treat this as a short, honest file rather than the full yarn.

The biggest story I could read in full is his January 2026 speech to the diplomatic corps at the Hofburg. He called the US a “former friend” and said its early-January intervention in Venezuela, which led to the capture of that country's president, broke international law. He also condemned what he called blatant attempts to annex Greenland and criticised Russia's attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Vindobona says the “former friend” line caused particular controversy.

The same speech went after Iran for the brutal suppression of protests, voiced concern about Gaza and Sudan, and urged diplomacy over power politics and a “European patriotism”. Where you land on the US line depends on whether you read it as honest plain speaking or as undiplomatic for a head of state. Either way, it is speaking up for rules over might.

In February 2026 he posted greetings for the start of Ramadan and Christian Lent, which began on the same day. The message said that as both begin, we are reminded to “pause, be grateful and be there for one another”. Some online critics, including conservative journalist Ellen Fantini, said the Ramadan imagery overshadowed Lent, and the report carries no response from him.

On the harm check, nothing in the pages I opened shows him demeaning LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or anyone else, or pushing conspiracy theories. The one older sore point the report recalls is 2017, when he faced criticism over a comment about Austrian women wearing headscarves in solidarity with Muslims. I couldn't open anything on his record on LGBTQ+ rights, so I'm not scoring that beyond what's confirmed here.

Nothing recent beyond those two early-2026 stories turned up, and I found no court outcomes or misconduct allegations against him. So it's a lean-yes on a thin file: a head of state on the right side of the pages I could read, not a full dossier.