What is the mood of entrepreneurs and consumers in Upper Austria, and what should come out of the federal government negotiations between the ÖVP and the FPÖ from the business perspective?
The relative majority of entrepreneurs (43 percent) are confident about the next twelve months. 31 percent are skeptical, 21 percent are worried. This is the result of a survey by the Imas Institute among 505 entrepreneurs on behalf of the Upper Austrian Economic Association.
Business association chairwoman Doris Hummer said when presenting the figures that entrepreneurs are significantly more optimistic than the general population (34 percent): because entrepreneurs “believe in their product and team.” At the same time, 51 percent expect the overall economic situation to worsen and ten percent expect it to improve.
Hummer calls for “relief for companies and support for the economy” – from significantly lower wage costs to investment incentives and an “anti-bureaucracy lawyer”.
Hummer spoke of “red lines” in government negotiations. A red line of the ÖVP with the SPÖ was their “entrepreneur expulsion program” with taxes on assets and inheritances. Hummer is against watering can subsidies, excessive funding for heating systems, for example, and undesirable developments in educational leave.
According to Hummer, the rule of law and the issue of Europe will be red lines for the FPÖ. “We’re not even discussing leaving the EU.” At the same time, bureaucracy in Europe must be reduced.
Oberbank General Director Franz Gasselsberger said in the OÖN interview: “No matter what the government looks like, the important reforms must be implemented: budget restructuring on the expenditure side in order to relieve the burden on the labor factor, and a pension reform.” The negative mood spiral among the population must be broken, he says, referring to surveys by the Market Institute.
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Image: VOLKER WEIHBOLD
Source: Nachrichten
