Carinthia Unofficial

Curious verdict and a colorful mix of topics

The municipalities have their backs to the wall financially.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

The municipalities have their backs to the wall financially - their representatives can only dream of a rain of money. This is why the Freedom Party is now taking aim at municipal supervision. Meanwhile, the SPÖ is presenting a potpourri of topics in today's state parliament.

The effects of Carinthia's financial policy on the municipalities are not only a concern for the provincial parliament today, but also for the Freedom Party municipal councillors in St. Veit. At a municipal council meeting, they had requested that a petition be submitted to the Carinthian provincial parliament to abolish the provincial levy - a kind of declaration of intent by the municipality, as is customary in everyday politics.

Because Mayor Martin Kulmer (SPÖ) did not deal with the urgent motion - on the grounds that it did not cover his own area of responsibility - the Blue Party turned to the municipal supervisory authority, with sobering results. The latter agreed with the mayor, even though the provincial levy is part of the budget as a transfer payment from the municipalities to the province and is therefore more than clearly within the municipality's own sphere of influence. This was also confirmed by an expert opinion by lawyer Christoph Urzt, who also pointed out that the passing of a resolution on a petition is generally permissible. But how did the curious decision of the municipal supervisory authority come about? FP leader Erwin Angerer detects partisan games: "This unlawful action is obviously being systematically covered up by the municipal department in the provincial government. The top boss of this municipal department is SPÖ provincial councillor Daniel Fellner and the head of the department was the office manager of SPÖ deputy provincial governor Gaby Schaunig for a long time. We are therefore calling for a depoliticization of municipal supervision. There will be an initiative on this in the provincial parliament.

SPÖ with many topics in the provincial parliament
The SPÖ wants to cover a wide range of topics in the provincial parliament today: from laboratory meat to Guntschach and espionage, there is something for everyone. Espionage? Yes, for club chairman Herwig Seiser, the current legal situation is "massively detrimental to democracy". "The Minister of Justice must clean up Austria's espionage paradise and tighten up the espionage paragraph. Apart from an announcement, nothing has happened so far," demands Seiser, also with a view to a party in the National Council "with a close friendship treaty with Putin's party".

Seiser and Hukarevic gave a preview of the meeting.

(Bild: Felix Justich)

However, there is agreement with the same party on another topic: the SPÖ also wants to put a stop to lab-grown meat. "Test-tube schnitzel is the opposite of sustainability," explains Member of Parliament Ervin Hukarevic and warns. "It only leads to dependence on food corporations." There is agreement between all parties in the relevant committee - that should work.

Hukarevic expressly praises the efforts of the Valentin ferry for the people of Guntschach and promises that the road will be open by June.