SPÖ goes one better

Hospital dispute: “Disclose secret plans now!”

Wants everything to be played with open cards: Sven Hergovich (SPÖ).

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

In the dispute over the impending closure of several provincial hospitals in Lower Austria, SPÖ leader Sven Hergovich has gone one step further. He is now demanding comprehensive transparency from the People's Party - and is also fueling an internal dispute within the Black Party.

Sven Hergovich does not want to be a shirker - see page 10. He wants to use all political means at his disposal to prevent the impending clear-cutting of Lower Austria's hospital landscape. In the state parliament, the SPÖ is making the closures the subject of a topical debate, and the next meeting of the state government will probably not be without controversy either.

"Lower Austrians want more transparency"
It is above all the secrecy surrounding the strategy paper, which was first made public by the "Krone" newspaper, that is so upsetting for the SPÖ chairman. Hergovich speaks of reactions from all four districts when he says: "People everywhere now want more transparency!" And he also sees an internal dispute brewing within the People's Party: "I find the current allegation that the secret document was created at a time when Stephan Pernkopf was the provincial councillor responsible for the health sector indecent," says Hergovich. And to the governor: "You have to take responsibility for your own secret papers and cannot pass them on to others. That is also fairness."

Old trench warfare breaks out anew
Just a few days ago, there was a huge rumbling in the black party headquarters on the Traisen. As reported, the former NÖAAB boss and incumbent National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka was not co-opted onto the board as planned. The castling failed due to resistance from the powerful former farmers' association president Klaudia Tanner, who was spoiled for preferential votes. But the much-maligned alliance dispute is another story anyway . . .