"Power games"

A federal turmoil: This is how the FPÖ wants to slow down the Greens

The FPÖ apparently wants to restrict the democratic rights of the Greens in the Federal Council (photo).

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

New domestic political dynamite just before Christmas: The FPÖ apparently wants to deny the Greens their status as a parliamentary group in the Bundesrat. The ecological party revealed this in the run-up to the Federal Council meeting on Thursday. However, the Freedom Party's plan will require the support of other parties.

At the meeting on Thursday, the parties are to vote on this very status.

Greens now only have four federal councillors
Background: The Greens lost their Styrian mandate in the Federal Council in the Styrian state elections, which also had consequences for their parliamentary group status in the provincial chamber. With only four federal councillors in future, they are - as has been the case several times in the past - dependent on the express approval of the Federal Council to form a parliamentary group.

Without parliamentary group status, parties lose parliamentary rights
Important: Those who are not granted parliamentary group status lose key parliamentary rights, such as the right to vote in committees or participate in the presidential debate.

"As soon as the FPÖ has the opportunity, it weakens the opposition and attacks critical voices," criticizes Sigi Maurer, managing parliamentary group leader of the Greens.

Sigrid Maurer, geschäftsführende Klubobfrau der Grünen

Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER

Until now, however, it has been customary for parties with four or more seats in the Federal Council to be given the status of a parliamentary group. 

Green appeal to other parties
"As soon as the FPÖ has the opportunity, it weakens the opposition and attacks critical voices," criticizes Sigrid Maurer, executive leader of the Greens. She appeals to the other parliamentary groups represented in the Federal Council not to play along and to "protect the rights of even small opposition groups".

"Above all, the ÖVP can and must prove that it will not give in to the authoritarian fantasies of the Orban-supporting FPÖ. The latest events in the Bundesrat show once again how little the FPÖ thinks of democratic practices when it serves its own interests," said Marco Schreuder, parliamentary group leader of the Greens in the Bundesrat.

Even the FPÖ has benefited from this practice in the past
Parties with four members of the Federal Council have already been granted parliamentary group status eight times - most recently in 2019. The FPÖ has also benefited from this practice in the past. "These decisions were always unanimous. Now, however, the FPÖ is going against the grain and ignoring every tradition that was previously taken for granted," says Schreuder angrily.

The Greens are calling for an immediate end to the blue "power games" and a "return to the democratic principles that have served as the basis for fair and respectful cooperation in the Federal Council for decades".

"We will not be silenced - this blockade is a direct attack on democracy and the rights of the opposition," said Maurer and Schreuder in unison.