Innsbruck (OTS) – The black-red state government finds itself in an unpleasant political sandwich position: the opposition is increasing the pressure, at the same time the Chamber of Labor, as an extra-parliamentary source of unrest, is putting the coalition under pressure.
There are no more breaks in politics. In Tyrol, this year ends with disputes over the state energy supplier Tiwag and its management and begins the new year in January with a special state parliament on Tiwag. Not to forget the long-overdue decision to convert the Zillertalbahn to an ecological drive. Those responsible for the political hamster wheel are partly to blame because they do not deal with the problems that arise, but rather postpone the solutions. And thereby become driven by the opposition like the black-red state government.
In Tyrol there is another pressure point: the prevailing extra-parliamentary opposition from the Chamber of Labor. In the Tyrolean People’s Party, which has been dominant since 1945, it is also an internal party; the current President Erwin Zangerl and his predecessor Fritz Dinkhauser cultivated this as ÖVP employee representatives. Dinkhauser broke with the ÖVP in 2008 and founded the Fritz list.
A year after the state elections, however, the black-red state coalition is operating in an environment with little political and financial leeway: However, it has to solve the problem and only challenge the opposition. Chamber of Labor President Erwin Zangerl, on the other hand, is happy to increase the pressure a few weeks before the chamber elections. At the same time, the opposition parties are playing into his hands with the special state parliament on the controversial contract terminations, the electricity price and the weaknesses of Tiwag management.
On the other hand, State Governor Anton Mattle (ÖVP) and his coalition partner Deputy State Governor Georg Dornauer (SPÖ) only have a small window of time to get the unsatisfactory situation with Tiwag, the Zillertalbahn or the new building of the MCI Entrepreneurial University, which is financially out of control, on track. The election campaign in the state capital Innsbruck for the local council elections in April will get off to a full start in February, and claims to the contrary cannot be surpassed in terms of political naivety. The National Council elections in autumn 2024 are already casting their shadow; they will also influence politics in Tyrol and naturally come to a head.
Mattle and Dornauer are therefore entering the new year with a backpack full of unfinished tasks. Knowing that the conditions will be even more difficult than this year. Not that you have to feel sorry for them, but at least there are doubts as to whether they will actually be willing and able to make political decisions in 2024.
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