Carinthia Unofficial

Why an old promise is not being kept

The "Democracy Package" was presented in 2015: including a reduction in the size of the government.

(Bild: Rojsek-Wiedergut Uta/Kronenzeitung)

The Carinthian Freedom Party pushed ahead with its demand for a reduction in the number of government members in the last parliamentary session. However, the governing parties quickly rejected the blue wish. However, it was the red and black parties who had already announced a reduction in size.

It was not only the post haggling that was the focus of last Monday's special session of the state parliament. The state's austerity package was also the subject of heated debate. And the Freedom Party under club chairman Erwin Angerer also tabled an urgent motion to reduce the number of government members. Understandably, this did not go down particularly well with the governing parties and the motion was therefore shot down.

A "system change" that was never implemented
However, it was precisely the SP and VP, together with the Greens, who presented their "Democracy Package" in 2015. This talks about a "system change" that should have been implemented in the state government following the abolition of the proportional representation system. And precisely this "system change" also provided for a reduction in the number of government members from seven to five. 

A step well worth considering, given that the government offices cost several million euros a year. However, it seems to make little sense for the current government.

This is why it remains at seven members
After the Carinthian Freedom Party called for a reduction in the size of the state government and the two governing parties announced this in their "Democracy Package" in 2015 (we reported), SP Club Chairman Herwig Seiser has now commented: "The 'Democracy Package' was a working paper. And there was never a decision to reduce the size of the government. Our main focus was on strengthening the rights of the opposition in the paper." In addition, around 1.1 million euros were saved annually in the government offices during the years of red government participation. "This was achieved by reducing the number of staff compared to previous governments," explains the red party leader, who co-signed the "Democracy Package" together with VP party leader Markus Malle.

Even if it was only a working paper, the Freedom Party is still calling for a reduction in size.