However commendable the intention, the execution looks pathetic. The food price comparison database, widely announced by the Black-Green Party last year, is still a long time coming and may even be on the brink of extinction. Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Kocher explains in response to a question that setting up a government instrument is “not appropriate”.
“That was a pure marketing stunt,” are the words of former minister Beate Hartinger-Klein about the billion patients in the COFAG-U committee – and perhaps also applicable to a long-promised black-green prestige project – price comparison database for food. It was promised in September of the previous year. It is still missing today, as the “Krone” has already revealed.
What matters
The announcement was intended to ensure lower prices through increased competition. But since then the opposite has happened. And as is known, prices have since risen much more sharply than in Germany and the eurozone (see graph).
The political consequence was mutual guilt. Kocher referred to coordination, where his proposal came to nothing. However, Sigi Maurer, president of the green club and part of the coordination in question, famously claimed that she had never received a corresponding proposal. The SPÖ therefore noted huge omissions and wanted to ask Economic Affairs Minister Martin Kocher a parliamentary question to find out what and why there was a problem. His answers are now available – and they are explosive.
Comparison tool “not suitable”?
“As is known, there are already numerous private price comparison tools available to consumers. Therefore, the development of a competing state product is not appropriate,” Kocher explains in response to the question. Although it is not appropriate, Kocher then underlines in his remarks that the proposal was sent to the coordination mailbox of the Federal Ministry of Finance in early December 2023, after it was prepared by the Ministry of Labor. “The other communication channels are the responsibility of coordination,” it also says.
For political observers and the SPÖ it seems clear: the promised big blow will probably not materialize. “One of the two parties is telling an untruth. The losers are the people in Austria who pay too high prices every day at the supermarket checkout. The beneficiaries are the food companies/retailers who charge outrageously high prices in Austria compared to other European countries,” explains SPÖ club president Philip Kucher.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
