The Greens are No Longer a Faction in the Federal Council
However, the still-ruling partner ÖVP and the Freedom Party voted against it on Thursday. Marco Schreuder, the previous club chairman of the Greens in the Federal Council, referred to an "undemocratic coalition" in a press release.
If the Federal Council gives its approval, even fewer than five members of a party can form a faction. This is crucial for voting rights in committees or participation in the presidium of the Chamber of States, which will now be denied to the Greens in the future. The Greens have been deprived of essential opposition rights by the ÖVP and FPÖ, Schreuder complained.
ÖVP and FPÖ Want to "Slow Down" the Greens
For more than 20 years, it has been regularly decided in the Federal Council that a party can form a faction from four mandates, the Greens recalled. The FPÖ, which only had four mandates in 2009, also benefited from this in the past and unanimously received faction status. The ÖVP and FPÖ apparently want to slow down the critical opposition in the Federal Council - "they will not succeed with this cowardly attack", the Greens said.
"It was to be expected that the Freedom Party would seize the first opportunity to silence the Greens in the Federal Council," said Sigrid Maurer, managing club chairwoman of the Greens in the National Council. But the fact that the ÖVP, which is actually negotiating a coalition with SPÖ and NEOS, is now "making deals with the Freedom Party to curtail the rights of an opposition party" is as shocking as it is revealing.
Lost Central Parliamentary Rights
With the revocation of faction status, the Greens are deprived of central parliamentary rights such as voting rights in committees or participation in the presidium. "The ÖVP and FPÖ apparently want to slow down the critical opposition in the Federal Council - they will not succeed with this cowardly attack", Schreuder and Maurer concluded.
Andreas Spanring, group leader of the Freedom Party's federal councillors, was surprised at the uproar. The fact is that according to the rules of procedure, the Greens automatically lose their faction status due to the loss of a fifth federal councillor. "We do not vote on this fact, because with only four federal councillors left, the Greens no longer have faction status, this is legally regulated". The fact that the Greens can still form a faction has already been granted to them seven times, said Spanring, but it is no longer foreseeable that the Greens should become stronger again in the future, "quite the contrary".
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.