TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG, leading article: "Governing new with old heads", by Peter Nindler

2023-09-04 20:00:30

Issued Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Innsbruck (OTS) – The black-red coalition in Tyrol wants to “govern again”. But their motto has so far proven to be a slow seller. Prime Minister Anton Mattle is being held hostage by black legacies and is thus also tying up SP boss Georg Dornauer.

Politically, Tyrol’s governor Anton Mattle (ÖVP) looks pretty old at the moment. Although he was only elected head of government almost a year ago. But legacy issues are catching up with him, and at the same time Mattle has to deal with the “old guys” in his party. How does he want and can he govern in a future-oriented manner under these conditions? The fact that the crises of the black-red state government are always one step ahead does not make it any easier for the state governor. General inflation, energy prices or skyrocketing rental costs even in social housing are challenges for politicians, but they also show their powerlessness.
The opposition is doing it a lot easier. It doesn’t have to come up with any solutions, just push the government along and increase the pressure. Even before the special state parliament, black and red will probably put together a new anti-inflation package, after all, the SPÖ is also responsible. It is their issues that are the focus. The comrades want to see the handwriting of SPÖ leader and deputy governor Georg Dornauer in the state government, especially in social policy. Summer is over, and so are Dornauer’s beach photos.
Likewise, a year after his election as black party chairman, Anton Mattle has to get going and free himself from being held hostage by ÖVP old. The near bankruptcy of Matrei in Osttirol, which can be traced back to ÖVP veteran and ex-mayor Andreas Köll, the GemNova bankruptcy under the outgoing municipal association president Ernst Schöpf (VP) and the appointment of managing directors at the non-profit building company Neue Heimat with ex-ÖVP Landesrat Hannes Tratter has been a major stumbling block for Mattle in recent months. Now the argument about the hydrogen railway in the Zillertal or about the Lufthunder on the Inntalautobahn, which ÖVP economic association chairman Franz Hörl brought him.
If Mattle seriously believes that Hörl embodies state-of-the-art politics, then the governor is gambling away the country’s future. This also applies to the discouraged and clientele-ridden land policy of the chairman of the farmers’ association and deputy governor Josef Geisler (VP).
Tyrol is heading for a hot political autumn. The black-red government is called upon, Anton Mattle and Georg Dornauer must finally renounce politics on acclamation. In the government program they celebrate “governing again” as a motto for the future. So far, unfortunately, it has proven to be a slow seller.