Open Questions Regarding Further Schedule for Coalition Negotiations

The top negotiators are supposed to meet at the beginning of the week, while a progress report is expected by the end of the week following the reports of the subgroups - however, this could slightly shift. Meanwhile, the ÖVP continued their resistance against tax "burdens".

Coalition Negotiations: Further Subgroup Meetings Planned

It was initially stated that all subgroups should report their results, as well as their sticking points, by next Thursday. The unresolved issues should then be reviewed by the steering group. According to "Newsflix.at", this could shift slightly as subgroup meetings are still taking place on Friday and the reports are being collected. These are then to be prepared over the weekend for a meeting of the chief negotiators on Monday, December 16 or Tuesday, December 17, who will then decide what happens next.

Timetable for Coalition Negotiations Vague

This timetable was not confirmed by the parties to the APA on Sunday, the information remained vague. The plan is still to have a meeting of the top negotiators on Monday or Tuesday, but this had not been finalised by Sunday morning. The goal remains for the subgroups to be ready for an interim balance next week, exactly when remains open. Meanwhile, negotiators are openly, but also covertly, trying to use the media to drum up support for their interests. The "Kronen Zeitung" reported on Sunday that negotiations are to be held on whether referendums should be held on contentious issues in the coalition negotiations such as comprehensive schools or wealth taxes.

Coalition Negotiations: ÖVP Continues to Oppose New Taxes

A sticking point in the negotiations is certainly the budget hole. Depending on the method of calculation, between 15 and 23 billion euros need to be found. Where savings are made is as much a subject of the talks as the question of to what extent measures are taken on the revenue side. The SPÖ is calling for wealth taxes, which the ÖVP rejects. ÖVP chairman Karl Nehammer recently did not rule out tax increases, which led to the party's economic wing trying to end the tax debate over the weekend. Interim Finance Minister Gunter Mayr also said in the "Press on Sunday": "You don't need a new tax at all." The tax rate in Austria is already high enough at 43.7 percent, "the focus must be on the expenditure side".

There was also a call from the powerful Lower Austrian ÖVP on Sunday once again to focus on "relief rather than burdens". "A revival of the economy and a comeback of economic growth are the best contributions to budget consolidation", state governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Wolfgang Ecker, president of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce, told the negotiators in Vienna in a press release. "In order for our companies to keep up in international competition, the thicket of bureaucracy must be radically cleared, regulations reduced, taxes on overtime abolished and unit labour costs lowered."

(APA/Red)

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