Ailing budget at stake

“Zuckerl” negotiations are now becoming more intense

Andreas Babler in conversation with Chancellor Karl Nehammer

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

The coalition negotiations are intensifying again. On Wednesday afternoon, the heads of the three negotiating teams will meet with experts for a "round table" on the economy. Afterwards, the budget is to be smoothed out - while the Greens are already launching pre-emptive strikes.

The next meeting between the leaders of the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS is scheduled for Thursday. At this meeting, the budget figures are to be put beyond dispute as far as possible.

With regard to the need for consolidation, figures of between 15 and 23 billion euros have recently been bandied about. The SPÖ is pushing for the data to be put beyond dispute as quickly as possible so that a consolidation path can be drawn up. The ÖVP, on the other hand, wants to include updated EU figures which, according to party leader Karl Nehammer, will not be available until the middle of the month.

Economic data getting worse
The outlook is unlikely to improve, as the latest economic data also showed a surprisingly negative picture on Wednesday. The GDP minus of 0.6 percent in the third quarter is significantly higher than the 0.1 percent forecast by Wifo, which was also the basis for the economic research institute's deficit forecast.

It can therefore be assumed that the next forecast, expected shortly before Christmas, will be even worse than the 3.7 percent for this year and four percent for 2025.

Sharp criticism from the Greens
For the Greens, on the other hand, climate protection "does not have the priority it needs" in current government negotiations. "There are three people sitting around the table for whom climate protection is not so important," criticized Leonore Gewessler on Wednesday in Vienna.

Kogler and Gewessler believe that the climate is being forgotten.

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

It is a bad signal that climate protection is only a "distant memory" in the negotiations and that the ÖVP wants to break up the climate ministry. Just over two weeks ago, Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) said that he did not want "large and cumbersome" ministries. "We have been told a lot, but stolid was never an issue," the minister responded.

This was also emphasized by party leader Werner Kogler. The ministries had been negotiated towards the end before the last government was formed and Gewessler had "deliberately" been given responsibility for a "super ministry" - which had also been described as such. In any case, the Greens had "delivered" on climate protection, Gewessler said, citing the climate ticket among other things.

Also because the budget urgently needs to be restructured, the Greens fear cuts in climate protection measures. Kogler criticized the fact that "growth is reported in advance, but we are then in the red". Despite these forecasts, one had to ask where the money had gone. "Many measures are coming to an end" because this support was provided during several crises. In addition, we had "inherited a complete dependency in the gas supply", he justified for his party.