2023-12-31 04:12:34
In the flared-up discussion about a supposedly threatened abolition of the commuter allowance by Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) and the sharp criticism from Lower Austrian Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP), Finance State Secretary Florian Tursky (ÖVP) is now putting a stop to it. “The ÖVP does not question the flat rate,” said Tursky in the APA interview. When asked whether something should be changed about the commuter allowance, Tursky said: “A clear no.”
All of this is “not up for discussion”. Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) also has a clear opinion here: “Both Magnus Brunner from Vorarlberg and I are clearly in favor of the commuter allowance.” This is the clear ÖVP position. In addition, “every member of the government is allowed to express themselves as they wish,” said Tursky, alluding to Gewessler.
The Green minister recently told the APA that she found the discussion strange. There was never any talk of abolition, but there was talk of reform. The ÖVP-led Ministry of Finance is responsible for the reform. The head of department emphasized that greening and fairer design had been agreed in the government program. Tursky also brought this same government program into the meeting and stated that towards the end of a government term, “things from the government programs” are always discussed “that have not yet been agreed upon.” This is completely normal – as is a certain escalation of the political debate the closer an election gets. Lower Austria’s state leader Mikl-Leitner accused the green coalition partner in an APA interview of waging a “campaign against commuters”.
Tursky also commented on another point regarding the Ministry of Finance. Recently there had been demands from the states for additional financial support for the communities – Vorarlberg’s LH Markus Wallner (ÖVP) had demanded a “community financial package”, Carinthia’s governor Father Kaiser (SPÖ) had demanded an additional “community billion”. Tursky called this “somewhat strange” and underlined the Finance Ministry’s already expressed negative attitude. The “calls for special packages” came at a time when the financial equalization had not even been decided in the Federal Council. The first thing now is to “fill the financial equalization with life.” “I also assume that the states will pass on the funds to the municipalities as quickly as possible.” We have to look at how the financial equalization affects “at all levels” and “implement it once before we call for more money again,” said Tursky, who expressed clear criticism.
The State Secretary described the cooperation in the turquoise-green coalition as “good”: “We should think about why the external image is worse. We have really made a lot of progress. This is a government that is strong in implementation.” We are pursuing “a real centrist policy, without a populist approach.” “But apparently there is something in the population that is moving away from this centrist politics,” said the Tyrolean, looking for the reasons for weak poll numbers and the clear leadership of the FPÖ.
The reasons probably lie deeper: “All our lives we have been confronted with the fact that at some point we will no longer be as well off as the previous generation. People now have the feeling: This is coming true.” The “problem of the established parties” – which included Tursky ÖVP, SPÖ, Greens and NEOS – is that they “took on responsibility” during the Corona crisis. “There was a great political consensus in the middle. At the same time, the distinction was no longer there. The FPÖ used this in an irresponsible way.”
The ÖVP, for its part, needs to “dedicate itself more to the idea of performance” before the upcoming National Council elections and perhaps thereby make an even stronger impression. Regardless of the polls, Tursky was optimistic that the ÖVP, with Chancellor Karl Nehammer at the helm, would finish in first place. Then everything is open when it comes to coalitions: “Afterwards we will talk to everyone.” In one respect, the 35-year-old was entirely in line with the official party line: There would be no coalition with FPÖ federal party chairman Herbert Kickl. However, he did not want to exclude the Freedom Party itself.
Tursky doesn’t seem to think too much of SPÖ leader Andreas Babler. So far, this has “not particularly struck him. Not even in the Federal Council,” he said briefly.
In any case, the State Secretary’s time in federal politics will end in a few months. As is well known, he is running as the mayoral candidate of a civil coalition in the Innsbruck municipal council elections in April. Tursky will then switch to city politics – even in the event of defeat, as he announced and emphasized several times.
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