Debates in Burgenland Over 2025 Budget

He accused the Freedom Party and the ÖVP, who also criticised, of spreading "invented horror stories" at a press conference.

Criticism from FPÖ Burgenland

The Freedom Party does not want to agree to the preliminary budget in the state parliament and wants to change it after the election as part of the state government. For example, the land mobilisation and the ORF state levy should be dropped, said Hofer, who wants to establish a Burgenland convention and a task force for bureaucracy reduction. FPÖ state party leader Alexander Petschnig criticised that the budget, with a deficit of around 126 million euros, was not "stable, balanced and sustainable" from his point of view, as announced by state councillor Leonhard Schneemann (SPÖ). To cover the deficit, the state is releasing over 70 million euros in liquidity reserves. "We are selling off our family silver," said Petschnig.

ÖVP state party leader Christian Sagartz criticised in a statement that the SPÖ single-party government is "living far beyond its means". He called for a fundamental reform in the state's financial policy: "For too long, money has been invested in projects whose economic and social added value is hardly recognisable," he criticised.

"Best Budget of All Federal States"

SPÖ parliamentary group leader Roland Fürst naturally saw it differently. He spoke of the "best budget of all federal states" and the lowest new debt of 50 million euros. The ÖVP and FPÖ have been warning of "catastrophic conditions" in financial policy for five years now, but the country is still not bankrupt, argued Fürst. "Either the claims are not true or we can perform magic in Burgenland," said the parliamentary group leader. He believes in the former.

(APA/Red)

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