New Popular Initiative Looks at Popular Initiative
Three referendums will be available for signature from March 31 to April 7. While two of the initiatives focus on more traditional topics such as lower costs for drivers and the abolition of the ORF household fee, the third is rather unusual. A municipal employee from Lower Austria wants a ban on enrichment for referendum initiators.
The topic has been discussed in politics for some time. There is a suspicion that some of the referendums primarily serve the initiators to earn a little extra money.
This is due to the legal design of the rules for referendums. Those who reach the threshold for parliamentary consideration receive the costs incurred back fivefold.
Manuel Plöchl from St. Andrä-Wördern argues that the initiators "despite nonsensical, often unfeasible demands" collect a net profit of almost 14,000 euros for each referendum signed by 100,000 eligible voters. He wants only the actually spent contributions to be reimbursed instead.
Boom in Referendums
There has been a boom in referendums since they can be supported electronically. In addition to the three initiatives now available, there are currently 33 in the support phase. The concerns range from a compulsory vote in the presidential election to an exit from the World Health Organization to the abolition of daylight saving time. Once 8,969 signatures are reached, a registration week is achieved, which is then set by the Ministry of the Interior.
Robert Marschall is one of those activists who have taken a great liking to referendums. This time, he is starting with the demand to abolish the ORF household levy. In addition, he is looking for supporters for an initiative aimed at the removal of the Federal President. Since 2020, Marschall has been the authorized representative for seven petitions that have achieved the 100,000 signatures required for parliamentary consideration. He was most successful with initiatives against Covid measures. Of course, Marschall is not only active with referendums; he has also run multiple times with EU-critical lists in elections.
Reform the Referendum Law
Plöchl, who is responsible for referendums in his municipality, says that the "flood of registrations" for referendums makes it "easily recognizable" that more and more private individuals are discovering this "business idea" for themselves. Therefore, a rapid reform of the 2018 Referendum Law is demanded, "so that private enrichment with tax money is promptly curbed."
The initiator points out that the overall effort for the federal government is also high. Because for each registration period, a flat-rate compensation of 40 cents per eligible voter must be paid to the municipalities. This results in over 2.5 million euros in tax money each time - and currently, at least three registration periods per year are common.
So far, the automotive journalist Gerhard Lustig has not been noticed as a major initiator of referendums. He is now entering the race with an initiative aimed at "making driving affordable for everyone, as many depend on their own motor vehicle." The initiators are demanding a 25 percent reduction in car-related taxes on their homepage.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.