Innsbruck (OTS) – Parliamentarism thrives on exchange and not on the rigid understanding of the roles of government and opposition. More exercise would be nice. Parliaments are most alive when the spotlight is on.
The climate between the government and opposition in Tyrol is chilling. You don’t feel valued. This is probably based on reciprocity and is perhaps new in the legislative period because people were hoping for better, but otherwise it has been a long-standing practice.
As in the parliament in Vienna, the rows in the state parliament are also the most crowded as long as the media is represented. In the Current Hour and Question Time, parliamentarism is experiencing its finest hour, at least in terms of news attention. The representatives and members of the government are practicing democratic debate. The result remains the same. This is ensured by club pressure and majority relationships. The government parties present their plan, the state parliament discusses it and that’s it.
There is actually more movement in the committees. That’s where government representatives meet with parliamentarians; that’s where there’s most room for change and rethinking. The ÖVP and SPÖ took office a good year ago and both promised a new style. The opposition should be better and more involved and applications should not be rejected out of hand. A lip service. The government is now accusing the opposition of rejecting all of the government’s plans. Conversely, the opposition accuses the government of doing the same with its proposals.
There are different tools in parliamentarism. Some are very efficient and bring parliamentarism to life. Others paralyze him. After a year it turns out that the ÖVP-SPÖ government is doing the same thing as the ÖVP-Green government before. Opposition motions are rejected or modified. Exaggerated, a comma was exchanged, reworded, brought up again and the motion was accepted this time because it came from one of the government parties.
In the vale of tears caused by the decreasing importance of state parliaments, there are also parliamentarians with limited self-confidence. Especially in larger groups, people often look for a need to communicate in vain or only know who the area spokesperson is after intensive thought.
Parliamentarism is a valuable asset that is under international scrutiny and even attacked. Mutual respect between government and opposition would be a means of raising the reputation and value of our parliaments.
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