TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG "Editorial" edition of August 31, 2023, by Wolfgang Sablatnig: "The broken spiral"

2023-08-30 20:01:19

Innsbruck, Vienna (OTS) – With the announcement of a rent cap, the ÖVP and the Greens have changed their strategy in the fight against inflation. It remains to be seen whether the upper limits will work.

The ÖVP and the Greens have achieved one thing: the governing parties have stolen the show from the opposition. Yesterday’s political topic was not the special session of the National Council, which the SPÖ and FPÖ convened to accuse the coalition of inaction in the fight against inflation. Topic number one was the presentation of the rent cap, on which the coalition had failed in the spring.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and his Green Vice Werner Kogler also urgently needed this announcement. They want to govern together for another year, they protest at every opportunity. It was high time, after the skirmishes, skirmishes and mock debates of the summer, to find a common point again. The months until the regular election date in September 2024 will be long enough.
The coalition has also completed a paradigm shift with the rent cap. So far it has avoided intervention in the market and relied on grants and aid payments. Now let’s go straight to the prices.
The aim so far has not been to dampen inflation. The aim was to limit the effects of this inflation. The purchasing power of many households was thus maintained to some extent – at the price that inflation in Austria is higher than in other EU countries. Economic researchers – even if they previously rejected interventions in the market – have long pointed out the problems: high inflation threatens to damage competitiveness. The coalition is now following suit.
Politics must also be sold. However, many people have lost track of the services. It’s about a lot of money: The communicators from the ÖVP and the Greens calculated yesterday that the relief from 2022 to 2026 would add up to 40 billion euros. Given these numbers, the frustration that plagues many government officials is understandable. Subsidy here, subsidy there, abolition of cold progression, valorization of social benefits: this is an impressive balance sheet.
Now the lid just has to work. Not just in the short term, for the political record of the ÖVP and the Greens. But in the long term. And there are no measures for all those tenants who are now looking through their fingers.
It will also be interesting to see what the opposition says. The ÖVP and the Greens want to pass the cover as a constitutional law so that there are no nasty surprises before the Constitutional Court. At least SPÖ or FPÖ must therefore participate. You can screw up the coalition’s show.