European Championship match and co.

Tyrol: Government trips in the opposition’s sights

Gebi Mair (Greens), Markus Sint (Liste Fritz), Markus Abwerzger (FPÖ) and Dominik Oberhofer (Neos) want answers.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Following the furor surrounding a trip to a European Championship soccer match by Deputy Governor Georg Dornauer (SPÖ), Tyrol's opposition, consisting of the FPÖ, Liste Fritz, Greens and Neos, now wants to scrutinize the travel activities of the black-red state government. The parties have commissioned the provincial court of auditors to carry out a special audit.

"We are not a stingy opposition", said List Fritz party leader Markus Sint at a joint press conference in the Innsbruck Landhaus on Tuesday. Trips by the state government - for example to Hamburg, Finland or Scotland - should serve to "broaden the government's horizons" and be "transparent and comprehensible".

We are not a stingy opposition.

Liste Fritz-Klubobmann Markus Sint

Bild: Birbaumer Christof

Answers to 55 questions hoped for
In 55 questions, the opposition now wants to shed light on the activities of the "travel-happy state government" and have travel costs, organization and accommodation investigated. Sint was also interested in the travel companions and asked whether party employees also went on the trip.

European Championship trip to Berlin as a "blunder"
The intention was not to spark an "envy debate", emphasized FPÖ regional party leader Markus Abwerzger. However, he had the "suspicion that there was no added value for the country" during certain trips.

It was clumsy, insensitive and clearly a private trip.

Markus Abwerzger (FPÖ)

Bild: Birbaumer Christof

Dornauer's trip to Berlin for the European Championship match between the Netherlands and Austria at the end of June - whereby the Tyrolean Football Association had offered the tickets and the travel costs for Dornauer and his two office staff had been paid from the funds available in the government office - was "clumsy, insensitive and clearly a private trip", Abwerzger said, describing it as a "blunder" by the deputy governor.

Compliance rules demanded
The opposition therefore once again called for compliance rules for the provincial government, but there was still no common understanding of how these should be structured. For Green party leader Gebi Mair, these could be based on the guidelines for the state and federal administration, while Liste Fritz wants a ban on donations, advertisements and sponsorship for politicians, political parties and organizations close to them.

In contrast, Neos party leader Dominik Oberhofer brought compliance rules from other provincial governments into play as a model. Abwerzger could not understand why a party like the FPÖ was able to draw up such rules, but not a provincial government. However, he conceded that it would not be possible to regulate everything "to the letter".

Business activities also under scrutiny
In addition to the trips, the club leaders were also concerned about Mattle and Gerber's previous business activities. According to the company register, Mattle is listed as a shareholder in a property management company and as a limited partner in Bergbahnen Silvretta Galtür. Gerber, on the other hand, appears as the managing director of several hotels. For Oberhofer, Gerber was therefore "ripe for resignation", especially as he had traveled to the International Tourism Fair (ITB) in Berlin as a tourism councillor, represented Tyrol there as a provincial councillor and therefore had a "conflict of interest".

Provincial councillor: everything is legally clear
Gerber strongly denied the accusations to the APA and said that everything was legally clean. He had "notarized and put his managing director activities on hold" and did not receive any ongoing remuneration from them - and that was exactly what mattered.

If someone demands that he sell his shares, this is a "scandal". "If we want businesspeople to enter politics, then this is absolutely the wrong way to go about it", then no one will be found to do so, said the regional economic councillor. He is the "owner" of companies and hotels, "and that will never change", said Gerber.

Results should be available in a year at the latest
The opposition expected the results of the ACA audit on all these issues to be available in up to a year. Only then would Abwerzger, Sint and Mair decide whether to call on Gerber to resign. Oberhofer, on the other hand, already saw the "facts on the table".