"Krone" column

The chancellor’s cake is drowning

Analyzes for the "Krone": domestic policy expert Claus Pándi

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com, Krone KREATIV)

Whether we call it extreme weather or man-made climate change. We are currently being taught a brutal lesson in physics: The Mediterranean, which warmed up to 30 degrees in summer, evaporated more water and the atmosphere, which had already heated up considerably, absorbed more moisture. The accumulated energy had to go somewhere. And so the low pressure system from Genoa is now discharging over large parts of Austria. With catastrophic consequences.

This is pure physics that needs to be turned into practical policy. This and the storms still to come will cost the state and its citizens a great deal of money over the next few years. For the current emergency aid, for reconstruction and to ward off future misery.

Chancellor Nehammer's cake will sink into the floods between the Vienna River and the Thaya.

The situation is reminiscent of the floods 22 years ago. Then Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel had to scale back his beloved interceptor project and cancel a promised tax reform.

This time it could affect Austria's participation in the Sky Shield missile system and various pieces of cake painted by Chancellor Nehammer during the election campaign. Above all, Austria will have to take measures to deal with increasingly extreme weather events.

The next chancellor will have to navigate through many new crises with little money. If he fails to do so, his government will go down with man and mouse.