ÖVP also backs down

Liezen’s leading hospital is as good as dead politically

Years of political debate could come to an end with the inauguration of a blue-black provincial government. In the meantime, the ÖVP is also backing away from the Liezen lead hospital, thus fulfilling a coalition condition of the Freedom Party. There will be no new building in Stainach-Pürgg under Kunasek, but Rottenmann is to be upgraded.

Things are now being put in place in Styria. The blue and black airport negotiators have brought forward the controversial "cluster" of health and care - yesterday, the future of the controversial Liezen lead hospital was discussed in the halls of the Thalerhof in Graz. It was already clear in advance that the FPÖ would push for an alternative solution to the multi-million euro new building on a greenfield site; fueled by the clear election result in Ennstal with well over 40 percent for the Freedom Party.

Negotiations are underway at the airport.(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

The ÖVP, previously the biggest supporter of the central hospital, is likely to largely accommodate Mario Kunasek on this issue and move away from the construction of the clinic in Stainach-Pürgg. According to insiders, this means that the main hospital is as good as dead politically! Instead, the existing hospital in Rottenmann is to be upgraded and expanded to become the central medical contact point in the Liezen district. The blacks can live with this - the blues, who won an incredible 63 percent of the vote in Rottenmann, can live with it anyway. After a real series of failures, bad luck and breakdowns in the Enns Valley, this could finally put an end to years of political debate.

Incidentally, even if the SPÖ had been in government, the flagship hospital would no longer have been built. The then chairman Anton Lang had also abandoned the plans in order to make a good "bride" for a possible "government marriage" with the Freedom Party.