Member of parliament speaks

SPÖ allotment garden affair: “I like swimming very much”

SPÖ MP Petra Bayr owns two plots of land in the Breitenlee allotment garden association. She has now been presented with her first bill.(Bild: Karl Schöndorfer, Ulrike Wieser, Krone KREATIV)

The waiting time for an allotment garden in Vienna is decades. SPÖ member of the National Council Petra Bayr owns two of them. In the "Krone" she explains why this is fair

There are almost 36,000 allotment gardens in the city. For many Viennese, their own green oasis remains an eternal dream. While SPÖ Member of the National Council Petra Bayr has two. On the fringes of an event in parliament on the subject of "Fairtrade", she answered questions from the "Krone" newspaper.

How fair is it that you own two allotment plots, Ms. Bayr? "I don't know what's unfair about it. I registered through the association and was interested, like many others", says the parliamentarian. Bayr bought a plot in the Breitenlee allotment garden association for 140,000 euros and one directly on the waterfront for 310,000 euros. Since the rezoning, these have more than doubled in value. She was actually interested in an allotment garden on the Wienerberg-Zwillingsee. There is also access to the water there. "I really like swimming," says Bayr, who has been a member of parliament for 22 years. But the waiting time for this would have been 70 to 80 years.

Brutally punished by her own comrades
Her own comrades have now served her the first bill. At the district conference of the SPÖ Favoriten, she was dealt a bitter blow. Only 104 of 200 comrades voted for Bayr as their top candidate for the National Council elections in the Vienna South constituency in the fall. What does she say? "I didn't expect a good result, but it was surprising that it was so close," says Bayr. She still has a seat in the National Council in her pocket.