Greens annoyed

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Symbolic image(Bild: maxbelchenko - stock.adobe.com)

The dispute over soil protection is coming to a head. After a meeting, the regional planning officers of the nine federal states announced agreement on a "soil strategy". The Greens reacted angrily and spoke of fake news.

The Upper Austrian state councillor Markus Achleitner, who had invited people to the meeting, had apparently forgotten that a decision on the land strategy was not even possible without a spatial planning conference. According to Green Party manager Olga Voglauer, today's "pseudo-decision on Achleitner's initiative" also lacked the binding target of a maximum of 2.5 hectares of land consumption per day. "As there was no ÖROK meeting today, no resolutions were passed," added Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler.

The Greens received support from Kurt Weinberger from the hail insurance company: with around twelve hectares consumed per day, Austria is one of the negative leaders in Europe. "We destroy 4200 hectares of agricultural land every year. This is equivalent to 25.2 million kilograms of bread grain per year and thus the annual bread requirement of 300,000 Austrians, he calculates. Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP) sided with the provinces and spoke of an "important milestone for the careful use of our soil."