Coalition talks

Expert on budget figures: “No certainty yet”

Fiscal Council head Christoph Badelt: "The consolidation volume is so large that it will require both expenditure and revenue measures."

(Bild: krone.at)

In order to put the budget figures beyond dispute, the coalition negotiators from the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS consulted with Fiscal Council President Christoph Badelt and other economic experts at the Federal Chancellery on Wednesday. This was followed by a discussion between the parties' top representatives.

NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger "wondered" about the exchange of blows between the ÖVP and SPÖ in recent days, especially on the part of the Social Democrats: "The time to align ourselves should be over." She continued to be moderately enthusiastic about tax increases, which ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer had recently also no longer ruled out. Basically, it is now the job of the negotiators in the current situation to say where the state and politicians can increase efficiency and use tax money more sparingly: "That is the very first step before thinking about how to burden citizens."

Badelt: "There is still no such thing as perfect security"
However, Badelt emphasized before the start of the meeting that tax increases and reforms were unavoidable in view of the large budget gap: "The consolidation volume is so large that it will require both expenditure and revenue measures." According to him, the budget figures cannot yet be finalized: "There is not yet complete certainty."

NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger "wondered" about the exchange of blows between SPÖ leader Andreas Babler and ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer over the past few days.

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Wifo boss Gabriel Felbermayr expressed similar sentiments after the meeting in the evening. "We need to reduce the deficit, this will have to be tackled from both sides - on the revenue and expenditure side", but in the long term, expenditure elements are the most important, said Felbermayr. NEOS MP Sepp Schellhorn spoke after the meeting of a "good appointment, things are moving forward". Negotiations will now continue on a tight schedule.

Need for consolidation between 15 and 23 billion euros
Nehammer, SPÖ leader Andreas Babler and Meinl-Reisinger continued to discuss the current status of the coalition negotiations in the Federal Chancellery after the end of the round table on Wednesday evening. No media statements were planned afterwards.

With regard to the need for consolidation, figures of between 15 and 23 billion euros had recently been bandied about. The ÖVP had recently argued that updated EU figures should be included, but according to party leader Nehammer, these will not be available until the middle of the month.