In the asylum issues that were rekindled by the Afghanistan crisis, there is the greatest gap between turquoise and green. On other issues, such as the recent election of the ORF boss, the eco party is criticized for letting itself be harnessed as a stirrup holder for the interests of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (VP). Nevertheless, Sigrid Maurer does not want to know anything about self-abandonment or signs of alienation after a year and a half of coalition. “It’s great to be able to shape,” the Green Club chairwoman sums up in an APA interview.
“Historic Task”
For Maurer, apart from migration and pandemics, “overcoming the climate crisis is a historic task”. “We will not let ourselves be disturbed by the Chancellor’s suggestion to offer resistance here.” The railway expansion package and the Renewable Energy Act have already achieved more than in the previous ten years. The 1-2-3 ticket and the eco-social tax reform will be decided in autumn. Also at the weekend, Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler announced the taxation of CO2 emissions from the turn of the year. It is fixed, “that on January 1st the gradual entry into the CO2 pricing and also the relief will come”, said the Green boss in the “Kronen Zeitung”.
Accordingly, wage and income tax rates should also fall from the beginning of 2022. The bottom line is that “there will be more relief”.
Maurer does not want to see the ecological issues mentioned as a turquoise-green predetermined breaking point. Whether taxes, eco-investments or the evaluation of Asfinag’s road construction projects: “We are now setting the course that is no longer reversible.”
Maurer also sees social projects on the credit side of the summer interim balance. These included increases in the minimum pension, minimum income and unemployment benefits during the corona pandemic. In addition, there would be generous economic aid, but also the hate-on-the-net package or the Freedom of Information Act, which the VP wanted to “rethink”, however.
Basic rules of the coalition
The Greens sided with the Chancellor party both in the free choice of VP candidate Roland Weißmann as ORF boss and in the non-renewal of the Ibiza committee of inquiry. For their club boss a logical behavior: In a coalition there are “a few basic rules, for example that you don’t vote against each other”.
Maurer feels confirmed in her optimistic finding by the relatively stable twelve percent in the surveys. In the 2019 National Council election, however, they reached 13.9 percent. According to the results so far, she expects her party to be strengthened in the next election.
