Proposals watered down

Black-red fabric softener for opposition ideas

LH Anton Mattle (right) and Vice Georg Dornauer: Almost half of the opposition's motions were adopted.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV,APA/EXPA/JOHANN GRODER EXPA/JOHANN GRODER APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

The Tyrolean state government rewrites opposition motions at will. A current evaluation after 16 state parliament sessions shows: Only a fraction go through as intended. The affected parties are now demanding that they at least be informed - and that the government finally makes good on its promise.

Rewritten and, according to the authors, distorted motions are still a nuisance for every opposition in the Tyrolean state parliament. Exactly two years ago, when the Black-Red government took office, it promised to put an end to this practice: it wanted to work "intensively" with the other parties represented in the provincial parliament, emphasized Governor Anton Mattle (ÖVP) at the time. "Solving problems together", taking up ideas and motions as undiluted as possible and not pushing them through, was the promise made by Deputy Governor Georg Dornauer (SPÖ).

High number of amendments
16 state parliament sessions later, the FPÖ, Greens, Liste Fritz and NEOS are expressing their dissatisfaction: "The performance of the state government in terms of amendments is disastrous. Of the 604 motions tabled by the opposition parties in the current legislative period, 325 motions were adopted, but 246 (!) of them in amended form. That's 82 percent of the motions that were accepted!", summarize the club leaders Markus Sint, Gebi Mair, Markus Abwerzger and Dominik Oberhofer.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Land Tirol)

Provincial government doesn't have to reinvent the wheel 
"It is still not clear why the provincial government chooses the route of amendments that are in no way meaningful in hundreds of cases. With its majority, it would be free to reject motions at any time if it could not bring itself to approve them (without amendment). However, if amendments are made, this should of course only be possible with the consent of the original proposer," explain the opposition leaders.

Amendment only with consent
To this end, they tabled a motion in the most recent October parliamentary session, which was not granted urgency. This was assigned to the committees for discussion and will be brought up again in the November state parliament (November 13 to 15).

The united opposition in parliament: Gebi Mair (Greens), Markus Sint (Liste Fritz), Markus Abwerzger (FPÖ) and Dominik Oberhofer (NEOS): "Government fails to adopt a new style!"

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

The black-red state government would not have to reinvent the wheel, but could use the rules of procedure of the three-member state parliament as a model for a corresponding amendment to the law. There, the consent of the first signatory to amendments and supplementary motions is regulated. 

Fallbeispiele

Wie Ideen der Opposition verwässert werden

The original text of the Liste Fritz motion: "The provincial parliament shall set up a so-called budget committee to keep the provincial parliament informed and to monitor the financial and budgetary system of the province of Tyrol. This committee should meet at least once a quarter."

After amendment, it read: "The Tyrolean Parliament welcomes the ongoing initiative of Governor Anton Mattle regarding a report on the current financial situation of the province as part of the exchange during the year with the financial spokespersons of all parties represented in the provincial parliament and calls on the provincial government to continue to maintain this communication channel."

Little left of the original purpose
The FPÖ can also tell you a thing or two about this. The text of their motion read: "The Tyrolean provincial government is requested to examine how the integration of information about the construction of photovoltaic systems into the standardized information system can be implemented without creating significant additional work for local fire departments." This became: "The Tyrolean Parliament takes note of the report of July 13, 2024."

Suddenly the Greens were fans of the Fernpass package 
"Make the Fernpass cycle path passable" was one of the Greens' ideas, which they formulated as follows: "The state government is called upon to work with the affected municipalities and tourism associations to ensure that the cycle path over the Fernpass between Biberwier and Nassereith is passable for average cyclists." The government must have missed the link to its package: "The state government is requested to implement the measures implemented as part of the Fernpass package to improve the cycle paths there."

Protection from fake reviews on the internet
The NEOS demanded better protection for companies in the event of fake reviews on the internet: "The Tyrolean state government is called upon to approach the responsible ministry to initiate a suitable package of laws and measures to better protect companies from misleading and business-damaging false reviews on the internet," the motion read. All that remained was a dry three-liner: "The Tyrolean Parliament takes note of the report of July 4, 2024."