“Very clear goal” – Mikl-Leitner wants the Nobel Prize for Lower Austria

The governor of the state again lost a lot of steam because of the proposed abolition of the travel allowance by the Greens. Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) recently announced a reform. Mikl-Leitner also complained about the position of the alliance partner in the federal government regarding the demand for stricter penalties for climate adhesives and transport projects such as the Vienna Outer Ring Motorway (S1) with the Lobau Tunnel and the Marchfeld Motorway (S8).

“There are democratic decisions that need to be implemented” for the Lobau tunnel. It is “an obligation of the federal government, not a proposal for discussion,” Mikl-Leitner emphasized: “The Greens are trying to prevent the project with legal maneuvers.” The state of Lower Austria recently filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court (VfGH). The governor further explained that industry and business “should not be seen as enemies, as the Greens often do, but above all as partners.” Innovations are needed in times of climate change.

Demands for stricter rules for naturalization
Mikl-Leitner has repeatedly woken people up with her demands on the federal government – ​​for example, she demanded stricter rules for naturalization and measures for better integration. When asked if she was unhappy with the work of the federal ÖVP, she said: “I am known for taking a very clear position when something is not going well or going in the wrong direction.” October 7 and the weeks that followed “showed many anti-Semitic trends across Europe and made parallel societies visible,” she explained. It is very important to “take action against anti-Semitism, and especially against those who violate our basic principles or do not accept the outstretched hand of voluntary integration. We tried to convince him for years. Now we need consequences and harsher punishments.”

Mikl-Leitner remains with Nehammer
The leader of the ÖVP state party described the 2024 EU and National Council elections as a “very big challenge”. She believes a “good” outcome for the People’s Party is possible – despite surveys showing that blacks will clearly lose first place. Federal party leader Karl Nehammer will “do everything he can to position the ÖVP as a center power. If the edges drift more and more to the left and right, there is a lot of room for the ÖVP, for a politics of the center and, above all, for reason.” She remains with Nehammer as a top candidate: he acts “professionally in his role as chancellor and has made a name for himself both nationally and internationally.”

Asked whether the signs point to a coalition between black and blue after the National Council elections, the state governor said: “The Chancellor has taken a very clear position here: no cooperation with (FPÖ leader Herbert, note ) Kickl.” The Minister of the Interior ruled out a return to federal politics: “I would like to be governor of Lower Austria, and do so with a lot of heart and dedication.”

Strengthen Lower Austria as a location for companies
Focusing on her home state, Mikl-Leitner stated that her central project was to strengthen Lower Austria as a business location – science and research play an important role in this. It is “a very clear goal that we will bring a Nobel Prize to Lower Austria within the next twenty years.” The federal state must “become one of the leading smart and sustainable regions in all of Europe. We are on track.”

Gender determination is “nonsense”
Regarding the decree for the Lower Austrian state administration, according to which the gender star, gap, colon and Inner-I are omitted, it concerns easily understandable and readable communications, Mikl-Leitner said: “Of course I know that the Left absolutely wants the gender star and women should be invisible in language according to rightists. Both are nonsense.” Lower Austria follows the recommendations of the German Spelling Council. “The municipality is responsible for the official regulations in the German-speaking area. “Asterisks and the like are therefore a fantasy language that has no place in public administration,” the head of the country explained.

2023 was “very challenging year”
2023 was a “very challenging year,” reflected Mikl-Leitner, whose party lost the absolute majority in the state parliament and the state government in the state elections at the end of January. She emphasized that Black and Blue, for example, had carefully taken thousands of measures, subsidies for housing and heating and the abolition of the GIS state tax, which “reach directly the compatriots and above all guarantee social balance”. They have “found a way of professional cooperation” with the FPÖ: “We have a working agreement with more than 200 points, and we are working through it step by step.”