15. 07. 10. - 15:00

Parliamentary summer meeting warnings over 2011 budget delay

Right-wing rivals the Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) are at odds over calling for special meetings during the parliament’s summer break.

BZÖ general secretary Christian Ebner said today (Thurs) his party could imagine forcing the parliament to gather every 10 days throughout the hottest period of the year over the government’s plans to postpone its 2011 budget presentation.

Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) said recently ÖVP Finance Minister Josef Pröll would make their austerity measures for next year not public before December. The constitution however says governments must present their annual budget plans at least 10 weeks before New Year’s Day of the affected year.

SPÖ and ÖVP claim they decided to debate planned actions longer due to the economic crisis, arguing they were able to react more precisely to economists’ predictions. FPÖ, BZÖ and the Greens however accuse the coalition of deliberately breaking the constitution to avoid massive losses in the provincial elections of Styria on 26 September and Vienna on 10 October.

While Ebner said the BZÖ was poised to force the parliament to gather throughout its summer break if the government does not change its mind, FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache refrained from similarly dramatic suggestions.

He said today his party would not support "inflationary meetings" to avoid this "sharp emergency instrument of the opposition" from losing its effect.

Strache – whose party is expecting strong gains in the October city elections in Vienna – said the FPÖ stands for "measures and initiatives with a sense of proportion", adding it planned to intensify its actions next month.

Greens chief Eva Glawischnig said she was optimistic President Heinz Fischer will manage to find a solution in the spat over the date of the 2011 budget speech after a meeting earlier today.

Fischer is set to meet SPÖ whip Josef Cap and Karlheinz Kopf of the ÖVP as well as Strache and FPÖ MP Martin Graf later today before speaking to BZÖ representatives next month.

Economic analysts meanwhile said the coalition must start attempts slashing the state debt and budget deficit as the Austrian economy seems to be back on track. The country’s state debt ranges around 200 billion Euros, which is around 70 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The Austrian budget deficit soared from minus 0.4 per cent in 2008 to a whopping 3.5 per cent last year as the credit crunch kicked in.

SPÖ and ÖVP said a bank tax will help them raking in an extra 500 million Euros per year from 2011, while the parties are at loggerheads over raising existing taxes and setting up further new ones.

Pröll said the plan was to spend 2.4 billion Euros less next year compared to 2010, adding that the coalition wanted to garner an extra 1.7 billion Euros in new and higher taxes next year. ÖVP whip Karlheinz Kopf however sparked a party-internal row earlier this week by revealing he could imagine getting the budget situation into order without any new or higher taxes.

SPÖ Chancellor Werner Faymann appealed to the ÖVP to lay its cards on the table over which kinds of new taxes it wants to set up under its presented "eco tax focus". The chancellor revealed support for a taxation of financial transactions at a recent party summit, helping him taking over Pröll in popularity polls.

Viennese public opinion body Karmasin recently found 26 per cent of Austrians would back Faymann given the chance to elect the chancellor in a direct vote, while only 23 per cent said they would vote Pröll.

The agency also said that the SPÖ would have the support of 33 per cent in general elections at the moment, one per cent more than its conservative coalition partner.

Austrian National Bank (OeNB) Governor Ewald Nowotny meanwhile hit the headlines by claiming it will be impossible for the government not to raise the Austrian pension age as part of its measures to slash the state debt. Nowotny said he could imagine an increase of one to two years in seven to 10 years time.

European Commission (EC) research showed Austrians retired at an average 60.9, and Social Democratic (SPÖ) Labour Minister Rudolf Hundstorfer has vehemently challenged pension age appeals to all 27 European Union (EU) member states by EU Commissioner László Andor.

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