Internal survey

EU skepticism among Tyroleans lower than feared

Transit is an important issue for many members.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

A VP survey of more than 1,000 members yields some interesting results. Transit and wolves are seen as important issues. Possible EU enlargement with Turkey is also a topic of the survey.

After the election is before the election. The municipal elections in Innsbruck have been held and the cards have been reshuffled. It will be interesting to see what comes out at the end of the day - but a coalition of Johannes Anzengruber with Georg Willi (Greens) and Elli Mayr (Reds) is certainly the most likely outcome. It will be interesting to see whether the FPÖ and ÖVP also get a seat on the city council.

There is no agreement with the EU representatives on the wolf issue.(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

The next election - for the EU Parliament - will take place in just over a month's time. The next big challenge for the People's Party. To mark the occasion, the Tyrolean VP conducted a survey among its members - more than 1000 took part. The results show that skepticism towards the EU is significantly lower than one would generally expect. The survey also clearly shows that a clear majority is in favor of the removal of harmful and problem wolves and that the high protection status in the EU should be lowered. As far as transit traffic is concerned, most respondents are also in favor of tough Tyrolean measures to curb the transit avalanche.

Overall, the results of the survey indicate a growing need for security and therefore a positive attitude towards a communitized security policy in the EU.

LT-Vizepräsidentin Sophia Kircher

Question marks over possible EU enlargement
Opinions were also asked about possible EU enlargement. With regard to Turkey's accession, the majority are in favor of ending the accession negotiations. On the other hand, there is a positive basic attitude towards membership of the Western Balkan countries - i.e. Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. When it comes to security, there is again great unanimity: Austrian neutrality is virtually untouchable for the majority of respondents, but at the same time the majority also support initiatives such as participation in the European Sky Shield (joint European air defense).

For me, Europe is a project close to my heart - and it is precisely this attitude that is reflected in the majority of our survey!

LT-Vizepräsidentin Sophia Kircher

 "Overall, the results of the survey indicate a growing need for security and thus a positive attitude towards a communitized security policy in the EU, which also includes active external border protection and the fight against illegal migration," summarizes LT Vice President Sophia Kircher. She is in fourth place on the ÖVP list and, according to her own statements, is the "only pro-European Tyrolean EU election candidate with a realistic chance of entering the European Parliament". She will incorporate the input from the survey into her political work in order to make Europe even better. "For me, Europe is a project close to my heart - and it is precisely this attitude that is reflected in the majority of our survey!"