Duel in the state parliament

Exchange of blows between Hammerer and Bitschi

Eva Hammerer, head of the Green Party, railed against FPÖ leader Christof Bitschi.

(Bild: Maurice Shourot)

The state elections in the fall cast their shadows ahead during the accountability debate. Governor Wallner also took the opportunity to define his expectations of a future coalition partner. 

Roland Frühstück, ÖVP parliamentary party leader, who will be leaving parliament after 15 years, began the general debate in a routine manner: he looked back on successful government projects, but also admitted that some things had not been done quite so perfectly.

Eva Hammerer, member of the Green Party, then once again found her own way of giving an account of the expenditure incurred by the two governing parties, the ÖVP and the Greens: Using three examples (climate, education and social affairs), she answered a daughter's question as to what the black-green government had done for children and their future.

Christof Bitschi lashed out at the ÖVP and the Greens.

(Bild: "Krone")

FPÖ leader Christof Bitschi quickly put an end to the hymns of praise sung to the members of the government and lashed out right at the beginning: "After they have both spoken, it's not difficult to find points of criticism. You don't even have to do much preparation." Neither of them addressed the problems faced by businesses, he said, adding that there was still plenty of room for improvement when it came to measures to combat inflation and so on.

He was particularly amused that the ÖVP - although its members had massively denied that there was a security problem in public places in one of the state parliament sessions in spring - had set up a special commission on this very topic just a few days later. "It is an extreme case that the reaction came so quickly, normally it takes two months."

Constructive criticism from Auer and Gasser
Manuela Auer (SPÖ) was not quite so harsh in her criticism of the members of the government. At the beginning of her speech, she even praised their work during the pandemic. "I often thought to myself, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes!" With regard to the past financial year, but also the entire legislative period, the ÖVP and Greens had left a lot unmentioned that would actually have been in the government program. "The 11,000 non-profit apartments demanded by the SPÖ would be exactly what is needed to reach the Austrian average. The ÖVP has been asleep here for two decades!"

Johannes Gasser with his European socks. Governor Wallner also received one of these, as well as a piggy bank and a pair of scissors to cut off the old braids.

(Bild: S. Schlingensiepen)

Johannes Gasser (NEOS) pleaded for the reduction of bureaucracy. "The only measure in the area of deregulation is that the wolf can be shot faster," he summarized. The bottom line is that the system and, above all, the subsidies need to be reviewed in terms of their usefulness and efficiency and old habits need to be cut. He had brought Wallner a pair of pink scissors especially for this purpose.

However, the provincial governor was less concerned with old habits than with potential new heads. Should he be tasked with forming a government after the election in the fall, four points would have to be discussed. Firstly, Wallner is interested in the independence of the country, and secondly, he would like to make it more crisis-proof - but this would not work without financial reserves.

Wallner's third point, social cohesion, is likely to find a sympathetic ear among the FPÖ in particular: "80 percent of the population want migration flows to be controlled. That's why the Vorarlberg Code is being introduced! A clear course will be taken in matters of migration!"

Markus Wallner already has very specific expectations of his coalition partner. These are more in line with the FPÖ than with the Greens.

(Bild: APA/DIETMAR STIPLOVSEK)

The Greens are also unlikely to be happy with the announced tightening of controls on social benefits - here, too, Wallner announced that he would take a very close look. "The question is also whether a person entitled to asylum should be entitled to full benefits from day one."

After Daniel Allgäuer (FPÖ) had also poured a little oil on the "coalition fire" - he accused the Greens of not adhering to the coalition agreement when it came to transport links to Switzerland and dancing around on the governor's nose - Eva Hammerer's patience with the Freedom Party was obviously overstretched: "Unlike them, we don't blow up a government prematurely with something like an Ibizia scandal," rumbled the club leader.

Memories of the home autumn - HH
She then took aim at Christof Bitschi: "As far as the issue of security is concerned, I recall their Heimat-Herbst - HH. They asked people to sharpen their knives. They were told to bring blunt knives to an event and take them home with them sharp," she said, outraged by an invitation to an FPÖ event with Herbert Kickl. She also wanted to know which values refugees should be guided by. For example, those of a mob incited by the FPÖ?

"Before the election, they are playing soft because they know that the hateful agitation will not go down well with the people of Vorarlberg." In general, Bitschi and his Blue Party lacked constructive solutions, many things were just copied from the ÖVP: "They said that there needs to be proper control of the output of children. I think a proper control of their output would be quite revealing!"