Still "Big Chunks" for "Reform Coalition"

The pink Vienna Vice Mayor Christoph Wiederkehr, who is currently also participating in the coalition talks for the NEOS, expressed satisfaction with the results so far on Monday. "There have been great strides in the field of education in the negotiations, both in terms of a second mandatory kindergarten year and a possible democracy lesson," he said on the sidelines of a press conference. The SPÖ is meeting today, the ÖVP on Tuesday.

According to Wiederkehr "great progress" on the topic of education

It had been announced that the People's Party would already call its top people to an informal online meeting on Monday. Now the meeting has been postponed to Monday morning for scheduling reasons, the APA was confirmed from the party headquarters. This takes place directly before the first meeting of the steering group of ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS, which should start tomorrow at noon. The SPÖ is holding an online presidium from noon today. The NEOS had already met over the weekend.

Wiederkehr is in good spirits, but he also sees "big chunks". "There are further negotiations this week, the subgroups are finished. Now it's about doing big joint projects." Which meant, for example, understanding basic education as the first educational institution, as he explained. Mandatory ethics and democracy lessons in school were also important. Because one sees that there is no longer the place where common value education takes place, as it used to be in religious education - from which many would deregister.

NEOS concerned about high consolidation needs

"There are still open talks, but I am confident with what has been achieved so far in the education sector that something can be achieved here," said Wiederkehr. However, there are still areas with "big chunks" - first and foremost the design of the "budget of the future". The question would be, for example, how to create room for investments in the education sector through expenditure-side reforms. A "reform government" needs such leeway. "There is still a lot to clarify." This is also the case because the previous government left a large debt backpack.

The NEOS expressed over the weekend, among other things, that the state governors should be involved in the discussions - also because of the high need for consolidation. The fact that this need is so high is no surprise, Wiederkehr emphasized today. "We had already warned about this during the election campaign." It is now the task of a future government to manage the budget situation. But there must still be room for "future investments".

State Chiefs Should Also Support Tripartite Coalition

"For us it is clear, there needs to be ambition in the next government, there needs to be a reform coalition. This must come about," Wiederkehr stated. A "big move for Austria" is needed. It must be explored whether this is possible. "That's why the state governors naturally have to support it."

The NEOS politician did not want to make predictions regarding the chances of successful completion of the negotiations. "Many percentages have already been thrown into the public debate," he pointed out. He did not want to contribute to further confusion and name new ones.

Meanwhile, Tyrol's NEOS chief MP Dominik Oberhofer sees a decision regarding the government negotiations between his party, ÖVP and SPÖ approaching. It could "happen quickly now", but the talks could "still tip in either direction," Oberhofer emphasized on Monday at a press conference in Innsbruck. Currently, it's about "getting down to the nitty-gritty". The main sticking points are the topics "location, taxes and levies".

"Given the importance of these topics, clarity needs to be achieved relatively quickly," the National Council member emphasized. He particularly called on the Social Democrats to take responsibility: "Reaching an agreement on these issues is currently difficult primarily because of the SPÖ's stance." One must always bear in mind that "the economy is shrinking" and we are dealing with a "billion deficit". This circumstance makes "major, structural reforms" inevitable, the NEOS would therefore "increase the pressure" in the ongoing negotiations.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.