Blackout alarm: – Police still almost everywhere without emergency power

The question is not whether there will be a blackout, but when,’ warns Christian Drobits, member of the SPÖ National Council.

The parliamentarian has been committed to securing emergency supplies for years. His demand to expand the Montecuccoli barracks in Güssing into a security island, so that Southern Burgenland also has its own operational base, does not entirely fit in with the federal government’s concept. Drobits also sees the need to catch up with the police.

Only half of the departments are self-sufficient in energy
According to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, only half of the offices in Burgenland should become energy independent. But the situation is more delicate than expected. A response from the ÖVP minister shows that 49 of the 57 police stations in Burgenland currently have no emergency power supply. “This means that 85 percent of the departments can no longer work for the population in an emergency and are left in the dark,” says Drobits.

“Blackout can happen at any time”
At his previous parliamentary request in 2021, only three police stations had emergency power. Now there are only eight left. “Five emergency generators in a year and a half! If the federal government continues at this rate, the executive branch will be blackout-resistant in ten years at the earliest,” explains the SPÖ mandatary: “That is much too late, a blackout can happen at any moment.”

The Minister of the Interior sees financial concerns in particular. The decision as to which police bases in Burgenland should also have an emergency power generator to increase resilience has been made from a business point of view, but also according to the principles of economy, economy and expediency, as well as after considering financial priorities. answer to the question For Drobits “a cheap excuse at the expense of safety”.