Turmoil in Innsbruck

Government wants to remove opposition councillor

1st Deputy Mayor Georg Willi, 2nd Deputy Mayor Elisabeth Mayr and Mayor Johannes Anzengruber (from left) together form the coalition in the Caprese colors of green, red and white. It has a solid majority.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

The red-green-white coalition in Innsbruck recognizes the incompatibility of the office with his profession as an entrepreneur in the case of ÖVP city councillor Stoll. However, he is not an office holder and has no portfolios. 

He is certainly inconvenient for the government, the city councillor of the "New Innsbruck", who succeeded the hapless DNI top candidate Florian Tursky in this role. As the former head of the finance committee and a long-standing member of the city council, the ex-"Für-Innsbruck" mandatary Markus Stoll naturally knows exactly how the hare runs in the city hall. And where the rabbit lies.

Incompatibility of office and management
The red-green coalition led by Mayor Johannes Anzengruber is now trying to remove the critical spirit from the city senate. The means of choice is the incompatibility and transparency law. His activity as managing director of a timber trading company is incompatible with the office of an opposition city councillor.

For the time being, however, the legal committee, including the votes of the mayoral list, has chosen the path of splitting.

StR Markus Stoll (DNI)

No office means no power
The fact that the company is not based in Innsbruck is irrelevant. Nor does the fact that Stoll, as a non-executive city councillor, has no departmental leadership. In any case, his options are extremely limited: According to city law, he has no office, no budget, no employees, not even the right to propose motions, as every ordinary mandatary in the municipal council has.

Markus Stoll, city councillor for New Innsbruck (DNI), suspects political motives.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

The decisive meeting took place last Thursday. The "Caprese" coalition in the legal committee decided by 5 out of 7 votes that Stoll's job as managing director is incompatible with his office in the city senate.

Stoll identifies ideologically motivated actions
It initially remained unclear what exactly this incompatibility is, as according to StR Stoll, no credible justification has yet been presented as to why one should exclude the other: "The political nature of this approach is obvious. It is an attempt to remove an opposition city councillor from office," he analyzes in response to a question from "Krone".

In this context, he criticizes Benjamnin Plach, the chairman of the legal committee: "The red club chairman Plach, himself a young lawyer and trade union employee, only recently failed magnificently with the declaration of a housing emergency in Innsbruck. He is once again resorting to legal means to cause a stir."

Entrepreneurs out - or in after all?
Removing long-standing entrepreneurs from the city senate defies all logic. Mayor Johannes Anzengruber himself had recently emphasized at the opening of the Fafga gastronomy trade fair how important it was for more entrepreneurs to be involved in politics. The extent to which the mayor and his parliamentary group, with several entrepreneurs in their ranks, will actually follow the view of their red coalition partner will become clear in the near future.