Debate in the state parliament – strong headwinds for black and blue budget plans

SPÖ, Groenen, MFG and Neos will reject the black on blue proposal on Wednesday if no changes are made. The parties made this clear on Monday. The only exception: the SPÖ approves the budget in terms of responsibility of its State Councilor Michael Lindner, who is responsible for child and youth welfare, youth protection, communities and animal welfare.

90 million euros debt
As reported, new debts are estimated at 90 million euros. In relation to the size of the budget of 8.2 billion, this is justifiable under the current preconditions, said governor and financial officer Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) in his budget speech. “We are not blindly opening the cornucopia, but continue to act with common sense and common sense.”

More money for health
221 million euros will be invested in public transport, 110 million euros in research and science, 41 million euros in broadband expansion. About 304 million euros will go to childcare, an increase of 7.7 percent and more than a thousand extra kindergartens and 500 extra crèche places, Stelzer calculated.

Healthcare expenditure amounts to 1.5 billion euros, an increase of 19.4 percent. A budget of 303 million euros has been set aside for investments in housing.

Focus on climate protection
“The focus is on investments in climate protection and digitization,” Stelzer emphasizes. This will be bundled in a ‘future fund’ with a size of 200 million euros. However, only 61.6 million euros are additional resources, the rest comes from the basic budgets of the departments and the “Upper Austria Plan”, an economic stimulus program for Corona designed for several years.

700 million euros less turnover
In total, the budget shows 8.05 billion euros in revenue and 8.14 billion euros in expenditure, leaving a net financing balance of minus 90.31 million euros. The financial debt of the state thus rises to 1.282 billion euros. The Maastricht debt is estimated at 2.49 billion euros, the current estimate for 2022 is 2.44 billion euros Municipalities around 260 million euros, Stelzer calculated.

Praise from the FPÖ
Government partner FPÖ was unsurprisingly enthusiastic about the budget. Many emergency measures have been taken. Club president Herwig Mahr blames the need for new debt on the failure of the federal government. He demanded of her “tight borders for illegal economic migrants, fast asylum procedures and consistent deportations”.

Mocked by the opposition
The SPÖ counters the proposal with its own “Upper Austrians: inner plan” with a volume of 178 million euros, which it has poured into eleven amendments. The palette ranges from investments in education for children and a healthcare allowance to a package to relieve the burden on communities. The Social Democrats reject Stelzer’s proposal in its entirety – with the exception of some sub-areas that fall under their own responsibility in the state government.

Above all, the Greens lack a plan on how Upper Austria can become climate neutral. Club president Severin Mayr criticized the future fund as a misnomer. “This fund contains the present and the past, but no future. There are no new ideas and new funds, just a casserole of existing measures, illuminated by much self-aggrandizement.”

“No Vision”
The MFG also does not want to agree to a single chapter, only individual amendments proposed by the opposition. The parliamentary group complains that it was not included in the preparation of the budget, but that it received rounded figures. Club president Manuel Krautgartner speaks of “downtime and inactivity”.

Neos spokesman Felix Eypeltauer also misses fundamental reforms. The black and blue state government has “no coherent, clear, understandable vision for our state”, it is only pursuing a “conservative continuation as before”, aiming to maintain power, he criticized in the state parliament.