TYROLEAN DAILY NEWSPAPER "Editorial" from February 17, 2023 by Denise Daum "Green beam man in free fall"

Innsbruck (OTS) – The reputation of Georg Willis in the population is dwindling day by day. His narrative of right-wing conservative sabotage, which is to blame for the disastrous state of city politics, wears off. Willi’s biggest enemy seems to be himself.

The expectations of the first green mayor were high, and the population generously gave advance praise. The people of Innsbruck felt addressed by the image that Georg Willi gave: interested, charming, unpretentious. And what many found best about him: he seemed to be a middle-class leftist. A mayor made for a city with thousands of hip students that calls itself alpine-urban but is a bit conservative at heart. It started promising.
Five years after taking office as mayor of Innsbruck, there is not much left of the image. Georg Willi looks exhausted, his popularity ratings are plummeting. Not only is the population’s trust dwindling, green companions are also turning their backs. Recently there was even a split in the green municipal council club.
There is no question that Willis’s political competitors, who felt massively threatened by his popularity and his binding nature, never missed an opportunity to harm him. For Innsbruck, ÖVP and FPÖ in the first row, sometimes in a team, sometimes on their own, let the mayor slip again and again. With joy. And they often sacrificed factual politics and progress for the city.
However, Georg Willi gambled away most of the trump cards all by himself. Little by little. First, he took away the ability to act by allowing the coalition to burst unnecessarily. Since the free play of forces he proclaimed, Willi has been able to implement and enforce almost nothing politically. In his eyes, the others are to blame – the right-wing conservative axis that is working against him. He never tires of this story, the listeners have probably been for a long time.
Georg Willi showed a dubious understanding of democracy with his unsuccessful restructuring of the personnel office. By handing out special contracts to his employees and granting his ex-head of human resources an unlimited top fee, the mayor gambled away his last trump card: his credibility.
Georg Willi becomes a real burden for his already ailing party. The Greens, who like to denounce “black felt” and “friendship”, who preach transparency, have betrayed their values in the tough day-to-day political business in Innsbruck. Mayor Georg Willi, whose tenure began so promisingly, will leave scorched earth in the town hall. And pave the way for the comeback of the commoners.