The total relief in 2024 for agricultural diesel, together with the CO2 price refund, should amount to 20.5 cents per liter
Vienna (PK) – The temporary agricultural diesel allowance in connection with the mineral oil tax is to be extended retroactively from July 2023 to December 2025 and will remain at 7 cents per liter. ÖVP, Greens and FPÖ met today Budget Committee for the initiative motion submitted by the coalition parties (4068/A) pronounced. The relief volume of this extension should amount to €75 million.
This is intended to supplement the reimbursement of the CO2 pricing, which was introduced as part of the eco-social tax reform to relieve the burden on agriculture and forestry in the area of agricultural diesel. For 2024 this is 13.5 cents per liter. In total, the reimbursement of CO2 pricing for the years 2022 to 2025 was allocated €134 million. Similar to the temporary agricultural diesel allowance, a flat-rate diesel consumption is determined depending on the size and type of area cultivated.
In 2024, agricultural diesel should therefore be supported with a total of 20.5 cents per liter. This amount consists of the temporary agricultural diesel rebate (7 cents) and the CO2 price rebate (13.5 cents). In 2025, the total amount will rise to 23.5 cents due to the rising CO2 price.
Compensation for agricultural diesel via flat-rate consumption
Klaus Lindinger (ÖVP) pointed out the “not easy situation” in agriculture and forestry. In view of their competitiveness and people’s food supply, the flat-rate refund is very welcome. Hubert Fuchs (FPÖ) was surprised why the remuneration was not immediately made permanent, especially since it would probably need another extension after 2025. In addition, the funds from the CO2 price refund have not yet been paid out, he complained.
Michael Bernhard spoke out against the proposal on behalf of NEOS, which he considers to be a “tax gift”. Bernhard also sees unequal treatment in favor of agriculture and “political horse-trading”, especially since in other cases climate-damaging subsidies are always questioned.
Kai Jan Krainer (SPÖ) questioned, among other things, the motives for reducing the threshold for the payment of remuneration from €50 to €20. He also wanted to know whether degressiveness would be taken into account if the costs for larger companies with larger areas were lower than for smaller ones. He also questioned a steering effect for climate-friendly behavior in agriculture with regard to remuneration.
Parliament’s budget service assumes that the CO2 price will still have a steering effect, said budget service head Kristina Fuchs. The CO2 pollution could be reduced through lower consumption, especially since the reimbursement is based on the size of the company and not on the specific consumption.
The current remuneration is intended to take the inflation situation into account, which is why it is capped in amount and limited in time, explained an expert from the Ministry of Finance, who also referred to the EU framework conditions regarding the payment situation. According to another ministry expert, the payments should be made this year. The flat rate 7 cent remuneration does not take efficiency into account due to the size of the company. The lowering of the payout limit to €20 was a political decision.
Opposition motions postponed
A number of opposition motions were postponed. The FPÖ wants to do this with a motion for a resolution (785/A(E)) to establish a municipal revenue equalization fund worth at least €2 billion to ensure the financing of municipal tasks. In order to give the municipalities financial support, the FPÖ is also calling for an increase in the municipal liability limit from the current 75% to 120% of the calculation basis by the end of 2022 (608/A(E)). Both initiatives had already been negotiated in the budget committee and were postponed again today by the ÖVP and the Greens.
Maximilian Linder emphasized on behalf of the FPÖ that both applications from 2020 had lost none of their topicality. With the community aid package currently announced by the federal government, the required points are still not being implemented. Manfred Hofinger (ÖVP) countered that the new financial equalization alone would bring states and municipalities €3.4 billion annually. The new municipal package also provides fresh money for municipalities. According to Finance Minister Magnus Brunner, the municipalities have recently only used half of the 75% liability limit, which means that the issue of an increase does not play a role in practice.
There were also new postponements by the coalition parties for three NEOS applications. In order to make the Austrian funding system more efficient, the NEOS advocate a sunset clause for all direct and indirect funding granted from federal funds for a maximum of five years. Before the deadline expires, the funding must be checked for its impact orientation and extended if necessary (2034/A(E)). From Michael Bernhard’s (NEOS) point of view, this time limit is needed so that politics and administration are encouraged to think about the appropriateness of the funding. Maria Neumann (ÖVP), on the other hand, sees “giant steps” already being taken towards an efficient funding landscape and mentioned interim evaluations and the transparency database.
In addition, from NEOS’s point of view, a constitutionally anchored debt brake with fixed repayment plans should make debt reduction more binding (3638/A(E)). Austria’s national debt has risen to record levels since 2020 due to the Corona and inflation crisis. In addition, the NEOS is required to curb spending (3639/A(E)). Between 2000 and 2022, government spending rose from €109 billion to €236 billion, and revenue from €103 billion to €222 billion. From NEOS’s point of view, Austria is not achieving any better results than other countries with this additional public spending. The ÖVP and the Greens said in the committee that these issues should be viewed in the overall context and more comprehensively.
Impact-oriented impact assessment 2023
Through the detailed analysis and assessment of the possible consequences of legal and other administrative projects, the Austrian system of impact-oriented impact assessment (WFA) enables evidence-based decisions to be made. According to the report on the impact assessment 2023 (162/BA), 60% of the projects achieved the planned impact in full or above plan. In the course of internal evaluations, budget management bodies identified potential for improvement in around half (33 of 70) of the projects, for example in the area of enforcement, according to the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Public Service and Sport. The report was noted in the committee by the ÖVP, SPÖ, Greens and NEOS.
Even if there is further potential for improvement, the WFA system has now “arrived,” said a ministry expert. Many departments have already set up impact monitoring, and across departments there has been a focus on quality assurance of the WFA. Every body must also assess the effects of gender budgeting, which Elisabeth Götze (Greens) discussed as part of the WFA. Potential for improvement was identified in coordination, for example, and a new web application has now been implemented. Overall, compared to other countries, Austria is relatively broadly positioned when it comes to impact assessment, according to the expert. From the perspective of Kai Jan Krainer (SPÖ), impact controlling bodies are doing pioneering work. It is the task of Parliament to ensure that the WFA continues to “pop into people’s minds” as a steering instrument. According to Christoph Stark (ÖVP), the working mode for the coming legislative period is left open in the report, which offers a good overview of the WFA.
Also up for debate was the report on the results of the investment and financial controlling as of the end of March 2024 (160/BA), which the Budget Committee noted with the votes of the ÖVP, SPÖ and the Greens.
Budget templates noted following discussions in the subcommittee
The majority of MPs took note of a number of proposals on which the subcommittee of the Budget Committee concluded its deliberations. This includes the report on the impact-oriented impact assessment in 2022 (128/BA), the report on impact orientation 2022 (138/BA), the participation report 2024 (142/BA), the monthly success for December 2023 (148/BA), the report on the results of the investment and financial controlling as of September 30, 2023 (145/BA) as well as the funding report for 2022 (III-1085 dB). (Continuation of the Budget Committee) mbu
NOTE: The Parliamentary Budget Service offers economic analyzes of budget policy and templates from the Federal Ministry of Finance. All current data on budget implementation (monthly reports) can be found on the Ministry of Finance website.
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