List shows

Blue most diligent of the five Tyroleans in the Federal Council

According to records, Christoph Steiner (FPÖ) from Zillertal is the most diligent of the five Tyrolean members of the Federal Council.

(Bild: Johannes Zinner)

Christoph Steiner (FPÖ) from Zillertal has the other four state representatives in the bag in terms of speaking time and number of motions. A list now shows which Tyrolean speaks and asks questions how often.

It is called the second chamber or, more precisely, the provincial chamber. We are talking about the Federal Council. In contrast to the members of the National Council, the Federal Councillors are not elected directly by the people, but are sent to Vienna by the provincial parliaments after each provincial election. Five of the current 60 members are from Tyrol. Surely you are familiar with their names, right? If not, they are: The ÖVP has a trio with Klara Neurauter, Markus Stotter and Christoph Stillebacher. They are joined by Daniel Schmid (SPÖ) and Christoph Steiner (FPÖ). Most of the names probably don't mean much to you and possibly even fewer citizens know what the Federal Council as a whole and the five Tyroleans in particular actually do. After all, Federal Councillors currently receive just over 5100 euros gross plus, of course, reimbursement of their expenses.

The meeting room of the Federal Council

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

In principle, the Federal Council forms the Austrian parliament together with the National Council (so-called "bicameral system"). It passes the Austrian federal laws. However, the Federal Council cannot prevent laws, it can only delay them, which is rarely the case.

A list available to the "Krone" shows the activities of the five Tyroleans. However, it should be noted that although this list is the most up-to-date, it is not the most recent. It shows the activities from November 30, 2022 to July 16, 2023.

Freedom fighter busy, trio misses out
FPÖ Federal Councillor Steiner is the most active in every respect - both in terms of speeches and questions and motions. He submitted 42 written questions and made 70 speeches. The ÖVP trio did not submit a single written question, while all three made 45 speeches between them. The Red Federal Councillor submitted two written questions and made 20 speeches.

In terms of speaking time, the blue member from the Zillertal valley spoke for around 580 minutes. All three ÖVP Federal Councillors together managed just over a third of that, exactly 200 minutes. And SPÖ Federal Councillor Schmid has 180 minutes of speaking time. Steiner is also the "model pupil" in all other categories.

Of course, you could say that some politicians talk a lot but say nothing. Or "less is more" etc. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see what our Federal Councillors in Vienna do or don't do.