Green Party Demands Clarity from Hanke on "Billion-Dollar Concrete Projects"

The formal reason for the special session is the previously unfulfilled publication of the construction program of Asfinag, which, according to the Greens, should have been published by mid-October. The inquiry criticizes that the specific details of the planned construction projects are being kept secret.

Gewessler Criticizes Hanke for Road Projects

On Wednesday in the National Council, the positions of the Greens and Infrastructure Minister Peter Hanke (SPÖ) clashed irreconcilably over the government's road projects. Green club chairwoman Leonore Gewessler accused the head of the department of digging up projects from the mothballs and saddling today's children with billions in debt for tomorrow. The minister replied that he decides solely based on facts and is already investing more money in the railway. Gewessler emphasized: "Whoever digs and paves a highway determines what the world looks like in which our children grow up." What is currently planned will result in people being stuck in traffic with even more cars on even more lanes. This would set Austria back decades in transport policy.

Hanke Points to Investments in the Railway

Hanke emphasized that six times as much is invested in the railway as in the road: "My personal focus is on the expansion of the rail and public transport." He decides with his head and not with his gut. The minister defended the individual planned road projects, such as the Lobau Tunnel: "If we do nothing, we risk a traffic collapse in the entire eastern region." For Hanke, "Roads not only connect places but also people." He is not concerned with ideologically motivated wishes, but with the best solutions for the people in Austria.

Other Parties Criticize Greens in Debate

In the subsequent debate, Green Vice-Club Chairman Werner Kogler questioned whether the solutions proposed by Hanke would not create significantly more problems elsewhere - through environmental destruction. The decision was by no means, as portrayed by the Minister of Transport, without alternatives, but always a matter of weighing options.

The other parties heavily criticized the Greens. FPÖ environmental spokesperson Thomas Spalt criticized that they had gathered the entire Austrian parliament for the special session "for 14 minutes of Leonore Gewessler's show politics." He accused the Green party leader of an "ideologically driven broadside against everything that keeps this country alive, namely work, mobility, economy, and freedom."

ÖVP transport spokesperson Joachim Schnabel attested to his blue predecessor as well as the Greens, only offering buzzwords instead of solutions. The construction projects would be financed solely from Asfinag's revenues from toll stickers and tolls, he emphasized, and also rejected the accusation of the destruction of the Lobau, as the tunnel would be built 60 meters underground. No agricultural land would be destroyed, but the safety in the villages would be increased by shifting traffic to the highway.

The SPÖ transport spokesperson, Wolfgang Moitzi, also accused the Greens of a "polemical discussion" and instead called for cooperation in the fight against the climate crisis. In the current legislative period, two-thirds of the funds for mobility would be invested in the expansion of public transport, and one-third in roads, he emphasized.

NEOS environmental spokesperson Michael Bernhard admitted that he was quite similarly critical of the Lobau tunnel as the Greens. However, he accused them of not having solved any problems during their time in government. The Greens had "pressed the stop button for five years," but did not solve the problem of traffic congestion, said Bernhard.

(APA/Red)

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