TYROLEAN DAILY NEWSPAPER "Editorial" from July 3, 2023 by Manfred Mitterwachauer "No time for summer vacation"

2023-07-02 20:00:33

Innsbruck (OTS) – The black-red coalition is going into its first summer break at the end of this week. Instead of taking a breather, LH Anton Mattle and Vice Georg Dornauer should start working off the countless political construction sites in the country.

No time to put your feet up, no time for summer freshness. Governor Anton Mattle (VP) and LHStv have not been in office for a year. Georg Dornauer (SP) with the start of the political summer break in front of a mountain of open political construction sites.
The big finale in the Tyrolean state parliament will take place this week before the parliamentary doors close for a good ten weeks. Now high politics may also be granted a few carefree days. The black-red state government cannot afford more at the moment. In the big as in the small. Fiscal equalization negotiations between the federal states and the federal government are already pending. A new settlement must be fixed by the end of the year. The federal states, above all Tyrol, have already made extensive demands on Finance Minister Magnus Brunner. Ultimately, it is about a new redistribution of the federal tax cake – in 2022 that was around 90 billion euros. For Tyrol, a lot depends on the outcome of this haggling. Also, whether Mattle can step on the debt brake as desired and thus restructure the state budget, which has gotten into trouble thanks to Corona and inflation, from 2024. Also, whether election promises such as the legal entitlement to childcare or the alleviation of the nursing shortage can be addressed.
Over the summer, the concept of the slot system – the bookable truck motorway agreed between Bavaria, Tyrol and South Tyrol – must be finalized if the national states are also to be convinced of this in the autumn. The financially ailing GemNova, including the (VP-dominated) association of municipalities, must be pacified in the coming months, as must the electricity price eddy with Tiwag. Mattle also has to make sure that the debate about the Kaunertal power plant doesn’t turn into a boomerang that knocks out the Tyrolean energy transition. Housing consultant Dornauer may have to worry about the fact that affordable housing can not only be managed through housing subsidies and housing allowances, but also through the SP to the VP farmers and the LHStv responsible for regional planning. Josef Geisler would really have to step on his toes. The “little reform” to be decided this week is clearly not enough. There was an embarrassing radio silence on the new version of the cable car and ski area program, which can no longer be postponed.
The summer school is registering fewer registrations across Austria this year. Seats for the black-red state government would certainly still be free. There is definitely a need for thematic deepening in various subjects.