Chamber of Commerce boss

Josef Herk: “The system incapacitates people”

Styrian Chamber of Commerce top management: Karl-Heinz Dernoscheg, Andreas Herz, Gabriele Lechner, Josef Herk and Herbert Ritter (from left)

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

The President of the Chamber of Commerce, Josef Herk, used his speech at the New Year's reception to criticize the "system" head-on: it would destroy personal responsibility and disempower people. The focus should once again be on performance. (Federal) politics also got its fair share of criticism. 

Styrian Chamber of Commerce President Josef Herk does not shy away from edgy statements - especially not when a chamber election is due in two months' time. His speech at the New Year's reception in Graz on Tuesday was therefore a reckoning with the status quo. 

Europe, Austria and Styria are too bureaucratic, too expensive and too wasteful. The problem, however, is deeper: "We have created a system that destroys the characteristics that make up a successful economy and society: Personal responsibility, independent thinking, the courage to take risks, the joy of innovation."

A feel-good state that patronizes
According to Herk, the system would not empower people, but disempower them. Courage is punished, inaction is often rewarded. The end result is a "society that can no longer think and act independently because the feel-good state believes it has to patronize them." The Chamber President is therefore calling for a reform of attitudes: performance must be the focus, rewarded and not punished. 

Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, State Councillor for Economic Affairs

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

The criticism of the high part-time rate, the "work-life balance" and the Graz government ("the city cannot live on traffic calming and social policy alone") was not surprising - but rather that the administration also got its comeuppance. There should no longer be offices, but service providers for modern society.

Praise for Styria, criticism of the federal government
Herk, who publicly criticized former Styrian ÖVP leader Christopher Drexler after the lost state elections, praised the formation of the government in Styria as a "clearly structured process". At federal level, on the other hand, he sees "the negation of major challenges, at least in parts of politics" - probably referring primarily to the SPÖ. 

The end of Herk's speech is interesting. He has been accused by internal opponents of not being vocal enough in defending the interests of entrepreneurs. The President stated the goal of becoming more courageous as a chamber and addressing everything with even greater clarity. This is how he will be judged, especially in an election year.

Almost the entire state government represented
The WKO's New Year's reception was well attended by high-caliber guests. The state government was almost fully represented with Manuela Khom, Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, Claudia Holzer, Stefan Hermann, Hannes Amesbauer and Karlheinz Kornhäusl. Also present: Caritas President Nora Tödtling-Musenbichler, Chamber of Labor President Josef Pesserl, Principals Peter Riedler and Horst Bischof, Steiermärkische board members Gerhard Fabisch and Georg Bucher, Graz City Councillors Kurt Hohensinner, Claudia Schönbacher and Manfred Eber, Spar Styria CEO Christoph Holzer and many other representatives from the white-green economy.