Chamber of Commerce election

“Real interests, not just party interests”

Günter Burger, Matthias Krenn and Erwin Angerer (from left) presented the election program at the Seepark Hotel.

(Bild: Felix Justich)

The Freiheitliche Wirtschaft is also starting this year's Chamber of Commerce elections with criticism of bureaucracy and high tax burdens, as well as attacks on the ÖVP.

"We must free the Chamber of Commerce from the ÖVP's stranglehold," rumbles FP leader Erwin Angerer at the presentation of the candidates and the program for the Chamber of Commerce elections on 12 and 13 March. "The ÖVP is not the owner of the Chamber, the companies are." Officially, Angerer was still optimistic about the coalition negotiations, which broke down in the early afternoon. However, the tone was already clearly sharp.

Fight against bureaucracy and taxes
For the Carinthian top candidate, WKK Vice President Günter Burger, the administrative burden for companies is the most important issue: "The bureaucracy is slowly becoming overwhelming. Where was the Chamber of Commerce when the laws were passed?" In view of the low voter turnout in the past, he also asks the question: "Do we still have the legitimacy to represent our interests?" The focus is also on the tax burden and the abolition of multiple memberships.

Matthias Krenn, Vice President of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, describes the economic situation as "extremely dramatic". In the fight for more entrepreneurship, he sees the responsibility with a new federal government; prophetically: "no matter what it looks like". And for the WK, he demands: "We must represent real interests, not just party interests!"