After open criticism by the ÖVP, Gewessler was rather “surprised” about the “surprise” at the Turquoise in the “press” on Sunday. However, the coalition does not see them at risk. Meanwhile, the Neos reacted “with zero understanding” to the turquoise-green squabble.
“Joint decision with Asfinag”
Gewessler affirmed that they have a joint government program in which climate protection plays a central role. “When it comes to infrastructure projects, there are always a lot of interests at the table – regional, supra-regional, business interests. And climate protection and environmental protection are now also at the table with me,” said Gewessler in the “Kurier”. The fact that the road construction projects are to be evaluated, which was a “joint decision” with Asfinag, was made transparent in a parliamentary question in December. “In this respect, I’m more surprised by the surprise,” said the minister in the “Presse am Sonntag”.
Criticism of going it alone
Since the Ministry of Environment and Transport announced that it would review the new construction projects, including the bypass ring in northeast Vienna including the Lobau tunnel and the expansion of the S10 in Upper Austria, there has been fierce resistance from the federal states. On Friday, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) stood by the side of the federal states and declared that he was “very optimistic that common sense will prevail”.
Environment State Secretary Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) followed up on Saturday after he had already expressed criticism in the OÖN on Friday: He criticized Gewessler’s “going it alone” and accused the population of “being insecure” that the federal states were “offended “been. The green climate protection and energy spokesman Lukas Hammer then advised the ÖVP to “listen to science” because, as in the pandemic, it is “the better advisor” in the climate crisis.
Protest in the Mühlviertel
The evaluation of the S10 section Freistadt Nord ordered by Gewessler, with the Rainbach bypass as the centerpiece, is still causing waves in the community. On the basis of an initiative by Rainbach citizens, a walk through Rainbach has now been organized to draw attention to the traffic problems in the town center. On Monday morning at 6 a.m. the march is supposed to take place for an hour:
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“Climate protection is not suitable for political games”
On Sunday, Neos environmental spokesman Michael Bernhard responded with “zero understanding” to the coalition dispute surrounding the Lobau tunnel. “In addition to coping with the corona crisis, climate protection is the most important and urgent task of politics, climate protection is therefore not suitable for political games, it also needs to work together,” he warned in a broadcast. “I am very little interested in what Mr Kurz’s ‘common sense’ says, I am interested in what science says. And they agree: The Lobau tunnel would lead to more cars and thus more pollution – and there is no strategy for how and where these additional emissions would be offset. ” It is therefore only logical and long overdue that transport projects that were started 20 or 30 years ago should be evaluated again.
FPÖ traffic spokesman Christian Hafenecker, on the other hand, had already suggested a “word of power” from the Chancellor on Saturday in order to bring Gewessler back “to the ground of reason”, because it “turns out to be more and more ‘unguided missile'”.
Headwind from the ÖVP
Environment State Secretary Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) had already sharply criticized Leonore Gewessler in an OÖN interview on Friday and gave her a kind of ultimatum. After their announcement that they would evaluate the Asfinag construction program, Gewessler had to “create clarity”, Brunner urged on Saturday in the “press”.
Ever since the Ministry of Environment and Transport announced that it would examine new construction projects, including the bypass ring in northeast Vienna including the Lobau tunnel, Gewessler has been facing violent political headwinds from the federal states. On Friday, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) stood by the side of the federal states: “We need a good infrastructure, especially in rural areas,” argued the Chancellor, he was “very optimistic that common sense will prevail” because it did If it were long-term projects, the matter was clear.
On Friday, Brunner had already criticized the green minister in an OÖN interview:
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“Federal states were offended”
“The minister’s statements have led to massive uncertainty,” added the turquoise State Secretary Brunner. “The federal states have been offended. And the population also expects reliability and clarity from these important projects.” You need “a quick decision on how to proceed,” said Brunner. “The minister has to clarify that.” You need the projects from the Lobau tunnel to the Bodensee motorway.
You could of course question everything, “but above all we need legal certainty,” said Brunner. There are procedures that have already been completed and millions of euros have been invested. “Now everything is in the air. The minister may be getting involved in years of legal dispute and the population will have to continue to wait for the relief projects.” Brunner believes that “more realism and honesty in the climate debate” are necessary: ”Anyone who says yes to climate protection must also say yes to infrastructure expansion.”
