Heated debates

Transport and housing hot topics in the provincial parliament

The March state parliament starts on Wednesday and the "Fernpass package" will be the subject of controversial debate

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

The March provincial parliament starts on Wednesday. Governor Anton Mattle (ÖVP) will comment on Italy's proceedings against Tyrol, among other things. But traffic is not the only hot topic. The Fritz list is stepping up the pace when it comes to illegal recreational residences.

The March state parliament starts with an explosive question from the Fritz list to State Premier Josef Geisler (ÖVP): "Why does the state government continue to protect idle mayors?" is the topic of question time.

The background is the debate about leisure residences, most recently fueled by the Porsche manager in Kitzbühel (the "Krone" reported). "In Tyrol, there are currently 16,361 approved and therefore legal leisure residences and presumably 10,000 illegal ones. According to provincial law, the mayors are obliged to monitor them, but many do not perform this task at all or only half-heartedly. However, recreational residences are not a trivial offence, but a breach of the law," emphasizes Fritz Club Chairman Markus Sint.

Sint: Suspicion of abuse of authority
He cites the tourist municipality of Seefeld as an example. With a rate of 21 percent, every fifth household in Seefeld is an approved leisure residence. "The number of unreported cases is even higher. According to a report by the Provincial Court of Audit, the former mayors kept a list of 132 illegal leisure residences, from which they collected the tax but did not prohibit their use. This is certainly against the law, perhaps even an abuse of office," Sint suspects.

According to provincial law, mayors are obliged to carry out checks, yet many do not carry out this task at all or only half-heartedly.

Markus Sint, Klubchef Liste Fritz

Bild: Christof Birbaumer/Kronen Zeitung

Housing shortage in Innsbruck
In the second part of the question and answer session, Green Party leader Gebi Mair wants to get to the heart of LHStv Georg Dornauer. Mair wants to know: "Why are you preventing the housing shortage in Innsbruck from being tackled?" The fact that the Innsbruck SPÖ has to go to the constitutional court to finally get their party colleague and SPÖ leader Dornauer to make the housing shortage in Innsbruck possible is hard to believe, the Greens explained. Dornauer had obviously lost control of his office and his party.

Alarming figures
"We currently have 100 women with 80 children who are homeless. 1200 people had to be turned away from the emergency shelters in 2023", said Green housing spokesperson LA Zeliha Arslan, citing dramatic figures - "which should make the head of the SPÖ finally roll up his sleeves". A Green motion to this effect has been put on the back burner for months by the Black-Red coalition.

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer (Archivbild))

Report on Italy's transit complaint
A current report by LH Anton Mattle will also take up some space: He wants to comment on the "Italian infringement complaint against the Tyrolean anti-transit measures". As reported, Provincial Councillor for Mobility René Zumtobel has sent a 36-page letter to the Ministry of Transport of Leonore Gewessler (Greens) in Vienna, in which the measures and their legal coverage are justified in detail. The Republic of Austria is affected by the lawsuit.

In an urgent motion, the FPÖ calls for "full transparency in Italy's transit lawsuit": the parliamentary committee of the Tyrolean state parliament should be regularly informed about the status of the proceedings. In another motion, the Blue Party calls for a study to be carried out on the effects of the abolition of the Luft-Hunderter on the Inntal freeway. "In order to be able to discuss this seriously, we need the relevant data and facts."

Criticism of the long-distance pass package
The state government is planning to amend the law for its long-distance pass package, which will take up a lot of space in the state parliament. The Neos want to stop the project and involve the population instead, while Liste Fritz says "No to the nonsensical summit tunnel".