She was part of the government negotiations that ultimately failed and gives the business community a voice in Upper Austria: Doris Hummer. She is concerned about the growing crisis mood in the country and the new constellation for the future federal government. She calls for a “change of course”, an “aid package” for companies and an end to the watering can principle.
The renovation bonus and the exit from gas and oil subsidies expired in the last weeks of the year – there was sometimes great outrage. If Doris Hummer has her way, the new federal government should either no longer provide this type of funding in the future, or very critically question it. “If individual topics and technologies are promoted, this leads to an increase in the price of the technology and to a bottleneck – that is not sensible,” says the chairman of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce. As chairman of the 18,000-member Upper Austrian Business Association, which in turn is a sub-organization of the ÖVP, Hummer spoke bluntly about…
- The end of government negotiations:
“We need a support program for the site, an assistance program, but we have now lost time again. We have lost very important time that the economy does not have. This also irritates us as business stakeholders, especially because in the end it was purely ideological issues that stood in the way of the deal.”
- The call for a relief package:
“I’d rather have an ending with horror than a horror without an ending. To achieve this change, which we urgently need at our business location, we need an aid package. This affects everything from bureaucracy to wages, energy costs and taxes.”
- Red lines in government negotiations:
“For us there are must-haves in the negotiations, but also red lines. For us, leaving the European Union is such a red line that we don’t even talk about. We need a strong European Union, especially in the power blocs between the US and China. We need strong foreign trade and live from exports in this country. New taxes in the field of wealth and inheritance also form a red line. We do not support this deportation program for entrepreneurs.”
- The demand for a reduction in bureaucracy:
“In Austria we need an authority, a lawyer or a state secretary who, every day, only concerns himself with what can be thrown away. As soon as a new law is introduced, two different paths must be taken. Companies have to deal with so much regulation and bureaucracy, it takes time and resources, but it does not lead to a new order.”
- Educational leave:
“We have subsidies that make no sense. For example, educational leave is a support program that has a good idea. But the system allowed parental leave to be extended in most cases for courses that took place online, without mandatory attendance and without mandatory completion. We paid unemployment benefits for people. That doesn’t work. We have to be honest with people.”
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
