State government Niessl IV

State government Niessl IV
Governor	Hans Niessl
choice	2015
Legislative period	XXI.
Appointed by	Burgenland Landtag
education	July 9, 2015
The End	February 28, 2019
Duration	3 years and 234 days
predecessor	State government Niessl III
successor	State government Doskozil I
composition
Party (s)	SPÖ and FPÖ
representation
Burgenland Landtag	21/36

The provincial government Niessl IV presented the Burgenland provincial government from the election by the Burgenland Landtag in the XXI. Legislative period on July 9, 2015 until the inauguration of the state government Doskozil I on February 28, 2019.

Government formation

After the previous system of proportional representation for the occupation of the state government was abolished in Burgenland by the state constitutional law in 2014, a free government was formed for the first time after the state elections in 2015. This change in electoral law stipulated that the party with the strongest votes would invite government negotiations with potential coalition partners after the election. The previous governor, Hans Niessl , decided on Wednesday evening after the election to only conduct coalition negotiations with the FPÖ. Thereupon, on Thursday evening, the ÖVP state party chairman and previous state governor Franz Steindl resigned from his position after a 14-year term. The day before, Steindl had said: "It was true what the sparrows had already whistled from the roof during the election campaign, the SPÖ was obviously sacrificing its basic social democratic values ​​on the altar of maintaining power [...] From now on HC Strache will decide on the Future of Burgenland. ”The cooperation between the SPÖ and ÖVP, which was forced by proportional representation, had in the past proven to be by no means smooth.

Despite a storm of indignation from parts of the SPÖ, on the part of the Greens, representatives of civil society and the cabaret artist Lukas Resetarits , who had supported Niessl's re-election but now suggested that he join the FPÖ, the future coalition partners closed theirs on the Friday after the election Negotiations and presented a 38-page government program. The press conference of Niessl and his future coalition partner Johann Tschürtz was interrupted at short notice by a representative of the offensive against the right , who criticized the shift to the right in Burgenland and promised the future state government “no quiet minute”.

At the same time as the government program, the protagonists of the future cooperation were named:

• on the part of the SPÖ in addition to LH Niessl the previous state councilors Helmut Bieler and Verena Dunst , as well
• on the part of the FPÖ in addition to the future LH deputy. Tschürtz the future state councilor Alexander Petschnig and Ilse Benkö as the future 3rd state parliament president.

The other two members of the SPÖ government were announced on June 8, 2015. For the SPÖ, Norbert Darabos , previously federal manager, and Astrid Eisenkopf moved into the state government. The previous SPÖ regional councilor Peter Rezar is no longer represented in the state government.

background

As a motive for Niessl's quick action, it was generally commented that he saw the danger that the party with by far the most votes and mandate (the SPÖ with 41.92%) land on the opposition bench and the ÖVP (with only 29.08%) could provide the governor. The day after the election, the ÖVP state party chairman had already sought talks with the FPÖ, Greens and LBL and emphasized: “For us everything is possible.” And “People want something to change.” The FP involved in the conversation with the ÖVP -Politician Ilse Benkö confirmed the ÖVP's rejection of further cooperation with the SPÖ: "[...] if I only hit my partner, with whom I ruled for decades, then that is not constructive."

Government program

The government program includes - in addition to the common truisms of "securing jobs", "full employment", "better, faster and closer to the citizens" - also some concessions to the foreigners and asylum policy of the FPÖ and a number of demands on the federal government. Of course, the design of the departments is viewed as downright revolutionary. While in the previous government the building and education departments were split up into an SPÖ and an ÖVP regional council, making quick and efficient decisions impossible, Niessl IV provides for the bundling of competencies in one department each. Niessl had already tried to reorganize the government departments in the previous legislative period, but failed because of the resistance of the ÖVP. LH Hans Niessl, himself a teacher, now has sole responsibility for all educational competencies, while Helmut Bieler , who has been in charge of finance for many years, is responsible for the entire area of ​​buildings and spatial planning. As a result, a mutual blockade of the coalition partners no longer appears possible. The standard stated that “within the one short week, more savings potential had been raised than would have been possible in the past few decades.” Radical changes are also planned for the outsourced subsidiaries, which have also been filled according to proportional representation. Furthermore, the change of 14 state laws, the conversion of the state school board into a modern education directorate and the creation of a state ombudsman in the program of Niessl IV are announced.

Election of government members

The state government was elected on July 9, 2015 by the Burgenland State Parliament .

Government members

On May 8, 2018, Verena Dunst handed over the women's agendas in the state government to Astrid Eisenkopf .

Office	image	Surname	Political party		Areas of responsibility
Governor		Hans Niessl		SPÖ	Education, administration, spatial planning, sport, housing and Europe
Deputy Governor		Johann Tschürtz		FPÖ	all security agendas
Provincial Council		Norbert Darabos		SPÖ	Social, health, labor market and asylum
Provincial Councilor		Verena Dunst		SPÖ	Women (until May 8, 2018), family, village renewal, agriculture
Provincial Councilor		Astrid Eisenkopf		SPÖ	Women (since May 8, 2018), environment, youth, energy, nature conservation and community supervision
Provincial Council		Alexander Petschnig		FPÖ	Economy, tourism
Provincial Council		Hans Peter Doskozil		SPÖ	Culture, Infrastructure and Finance (from Dec. 21, 2017)
Members of the state government who left prematurely
Provincial Council		Helmut Bieler		SPÖ	Culture, Infrastructure and Finance (until December 21, 2017)

Austria-wide consequences of the announced red-blue coalition

The first consequence of the election victories and the large gains in votes of the FPÖ in Styria and Burgenland was that the polls of this party improved significantly nationwide and the FPÖ would now be the strongest party with 28%. The governing parties SPÖ and ÖVP now each have 23% on the Sunday issue and thus no longer have a government majority.

Another consequence of the Burgenland election results and Niessl's coalition announcement was a veritable leadership crisis and a crucial test within the SPÖ. Since the SPÖ federal party congress, the party's highest decision-making body, had ruled out coalitions with the FPÖ "at all levels", while SPÖ chairman Werner Faymann had accepted Niessl's decision as a state-independent decision, on the one hand Niessl's exclusion from the SPÖ and on the other hand the Resignation of Faymann from the Chancellery and SP chairmanship called for. The first clear statement against Faymann came from the Mayor of Traiskirchen, Andreas Babler , who saw his party “in free flight low”. The former SP ministers Androsch , Lacina and Scholten agreed with him more or less clearly . Julia Herr , chairwoman of the SJÖ, who is seeking an internal party arbitration against Niessl, made a name for herself as the leader of the front against Niessl . The Burgenland SJ chairman Kilian Brandstätter resigned from his position in the Socialist Youth Burgenland with immediate effect because, contrary to the majority opinion in his organization, he had advocated the red-blue coalition pact in the state party executive. The SJÖ is supported by VSStÖ and Rote Falken . The former SPÖ member of the National Council, Sonja Ablinger , resigned from the party in protest, as did the widow of Niessl's predecessor Karl Stix .

The Burgenland decisions also influenced the formation of the Styrian government, where Franz Voves (SPÖ) did not want to form a coalition with the FPÖ. The ÖVP used its joker position without hesitation: “One thing has to be given to the Austrian People's Party: It has a talent for taking over the leadership of a government as the party that does not have the most votes. What she was able to do from third place in the federal government at the time, she is now doing again - at state level. Ten years later, Styria will again have a black governor: Hermann Schützenhöfer . And that despite the fact that the People's Party came in behind the Social Democrats in the last election, if only just. But maybe she had the better cards in the negotiations. ”Expressed euphemistically for“ some form of blackmail ”. The ÖVP and its top man had successfully threatened a blue-black coalition.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} orf.at - Red-blue government sworn in . Article dated July 9, 2015, accessed August 2, 2015.
2. ↑ orf.at: Doskozil sworn in as governor . Article dated February 28, 2019, accessed February 28, 2019.
3. ^ ORF : Constitutional reform fix: SPÖ and ÖVP agree , September 16, 2014
4. ^ ORF : Red-blue express train pushed Steindl out of office , June 4, 2015
5. ^ ORF : SPÖ and FPÖ negotiate coalition , June 4, 2015
6. ↑ ORF : Strong criticism of the formation of a red-blue government , June 4, 2015
7. ↑ ^{a b c} ORF : Red-blue government fixed , June 5, 2015
8. ↑ Der Standard : For VP Burgenland "everything is possible" , June 1, 2014
9. ↑ Der Standard : "I'm not Helene Fischer" , June 6, 2014
10. ↑ This includes the confession that the accommodation of asylum seekers is expressly excluded in the subsequent use of the old Oberwart hospital and in the barracks area in Bruckneudorf. One wants to prevent an asylum center in Burgenland by exploring all legal steps. The annual award of a folk culture prize may also be seen as a concession to the FPÖ. Otherwise, the term people occurs only in harmless diction, such as the emphasis on "partnership-based cooperation between the ethnic groups" or the formulation: "The law proceeds from the people."
11. ↑ ^{a b c} orf.at: Eisenkopf takes over women's department from Dunst . Article dated May 8, 2018, accessed May 8, 2018.
12. ↑ ^{a b} SPÖ presents new team orf.at Burgenland from June 8, 2015, accessed on June 9, 2015
13. ↑ derStandard.at - SPÖ Federal Managing Director Darabos becomes Provincial Councilor for Social Affairs and Health in Burgenland . Article dated June 8, 2015, accessed June 8, 2015.
14. ^ Die Presse : Survey: FPÖ clearly in first place in the federal government , June 6, 2015
15. ↑ ORF : “Very acute weak leadership” , June 6, 2015
16. ^ Kurier: Ex-member of the National Council Sonja Ablinger resigns from the SPÖ - and accounts with Faymann. . Article dated June 8, 2015, accessed June 8, 2015.
17. ↑ derStandard.at - Erika Stix: "That's enough for me!" . Article dated June 9, 2015, accessed June 10, 2015.
18. ^ ORF : LH Voves excludes coalition with "Strache-FPÖ" , June 5, 2015
19. ↑ Petra Schönbacher: Moderation of the Evening Journal , Austria 1 , June 10, 2015
20. ↑ Oliver Pink : Schützenhöfer makes the bowl , Die Presse , June 10, 2015

Web links

• Burgenland provincial government
• Agreement between SPÖ and FPÖ for the XXI. Legislative period 2015 to 2020 of the Burgenland Parliament , accessed on June 10, 2015