TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG, leading article: "The fifth power in the state", by Peter Nindler

2023-07-28 20:00:30

Issued on Saturday, July 29, 2023

Innsbruck (OTS) – Non-governmental organizations such as the nature and species protection initiative WWF, Greenpeace or the Alpine Association are increasingly playing party politics on the wall. Because they are more international, networked and more credible in terms of their interests.

With the association against animal factories, the horses are running away at the moment. The announced complaint against the agricultural consultants in Salzburg, Tyrol and Carinthia because of the shooting ordinances against problem wolves cannot be surpassed in terms of actionism and populism. Nevertheless, the animal rights activists hit a nerve that classic party politics, despite all the absurdities of the content, cannot politely dismiss. Ultimately, politics, which is mainly entangled in self-interest and party bickering and has a reputation for massive credibility deficits, has lost the sovereignty of interpretation.
The large carnivores, for example, have long since become a political issue. Because politicians automatically assume that they will receive widespread applause when, like last weekend, the first wolf was killed in East Tyrol. She is very wrong there, because the visor aimed at wolves is not seen as the only problem solver everywhere. Rather than clientele politics.
This is where NGOs come into play again. Political leaders of all stripes have long underestimated their influence and professionalism. These are no longer the quirky toad and amphibian protectors from next door, continuous lobbying work and activism strategically go hand in hand with them. Especially in the tension between tourism, environment, natural environment and regional development in Tyrol, they have taken a position as the fifth power in the state: whether with planned marriages on the glaciers or with power plants in the Kaunertal.
Well networked, tightly organized and with competent and professional public relations work on all information channels and platforms, the non-governmental organizations have gradually built up counter-pressure over the past 20 years: with a lot of international know-how and an excellent connection to the European Union Brussels. The NGOs look after general interests and make use of the classic instruments of interest groups. Franz Kohut and Peter Cornelius pointed this out as early as 2002 in their essay on “The ecological world conscience”.
The WWF, Alpine Club and Co. are therefore playing the classic parties and politics up against the wall more and more often. Because they penetrate deep into their constituency. The People’s Party, which is politically dominant in Tyrol, feels this particularly when it encounters massive opposition to new cable cars, power plant projects or the wolf debate. It comes from the environmental initiatives, but many of their sympathizers are also behind it.