Law to be amended

Gols Clinic: Doskozil now wants to speed up construction

Controversial: The new hospital is to be built on this site.(Bild: Charlotte Titz)

The planned hospital for the district of Neusiedl has hit the headlines: a change in the law should now speed up the approval process. Governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) speaks of an "announced liberating blow".

There has been a legal dispute about the hospital construction in Gols for some time. As reported, a Lower Austrian NGO has gained party status. The project has been delayed as a result.

Governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) announces an amendment to the law(Bild: Christoph Miehl)

Doskozil has now announced an amendment to the Hospitals Act, which should speed up the approval process. "This will break the stalemate, because people's medical care must not suffer," said the governor. The clinic will take healthcare provision in northern Burgenland to a new level.

It is unreasonable for the population to expect a Lower Austrian NGO to block this project, which is important for the health care of an entire region, by repeatedly raising objections.

Landeshauptmann Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ)

Faster procedures
 The decision is already planned for Thursday in the provincial parliament. The new regulations for public hospitals should lead to faster procedures. In future, approval procedures will be consolidated, processed at state level and thus accelerated. A similar regulation already exists for the construction of photovoltaic and wind power plants. Doskozil does not want to deny that some would describe this as "occasion legislation". "We owe it to the population in the district to use every legal possibility to end this blockade," said the governor. The planned construction is "certainly the most scrutinized project in Burgenland". No negative effects on nature are to be expected either: "The location is ideal." Doskozil added that the new clinic in Gols would of course also have to undergo an environmental impact assessment, a so-called screening.

Greens: "Rights undermined"
Sharp criticism came from the Greens, who were reminded of the "methods of autocrats" by the procedure. "Instead of taking the concerns and objections seriously and dealing with them, the governor is whipping a new law through like Viktor Orban and undermining the rights of citizens and municipalities," criticized Regina Petrik, head of the Green Party. She announced an urgent motion in the provincial parliament regarding the concerns of the UNESCO advisory mission on the hospital location.