Failure feared

Campaign spending limit: Blue doubts about agreement

Are the negotiations on the upper limit for election campaign costs in danger of failing? The Freedom Party has expressed this fear. The other parties are holding back

Fewer posters, fewer advertisements and less expenditure on election advertising, which is sometimes perceived as annoying by the population - that is the aim of an upper limit on election campaign costs, which is currently being negotiated between the parties under the leadership of the SPÖ.

Blue doubt
However, before the parties meet for the second round of negotiations next week, doubts have arisen as to whether a consensus can be reached. The background to this is that the Court of Audit is to check the figures for compliance with election campaign expenditure. To do this, however, the Court of Audit Act must be amended, which requires a two-thirds majority in parliament. "According to my feeling after the first round of negotiations, the audit of party funding by the Court of Audit is likely to fail due to the necessary two-thirds majority in parliament," says FPÖ parliamentary group chairman Johann Tschürtz.

"Upper limit for billboards"
The assessment and implementation of the allocation to the upper limit for election campaign costs for party events and the period of election advertising had also failed. Tschürtz therefore advocates manageable guidelines and a "poster space cap" to prevent "uncontrolled growth".

Hidden election campaign
The Greens and ÖVP do not want to say much about this in view of the upcoming negotiations. ÖVP party leader Markus Ulram is once again calling for a "head ban" for members of the government. Furthermore, the state government should not conduct a hidden election campaign at the state's expense through "official announcements and accountability reports".

"There will be a drastic reduction"
SPÖ parliamentary group leader Roland Fürst also referred to the next round of negotiations, at which a number of issues would be clarified. "The FPÖ criticism has not been thought through to the end, because an upper limit of 300,000 euros will automatically lead to a drastic reduction in posters," emphasizes Fürst.