Constitutional Department

Wind power: authority rejects FP referendum

In the last parliamentary session before the summer, the Freedom Party and Team Kärnten managed to gather the necessary votes for a referendum on wind turbines. Now the authorities are throwing a spanner in the works.

"Should the Carinthian mountains be protected from the construction of further industrial wind turbines?" was the question proposed by the Carinthian FPÖ. The state's constitutional department examined this wording - at the request of Governor Peter Kaiser - and has now come to a conclusion:

The authority has rejected the application for the referendum due to tendentious wording. According to the authority, the application is therefore invalid. FP leader Erwin Angerer will now be sent the application back with a request to reformulate the question so that it complies with the law, according to the government meeting on Tuesday. The Constitutional Service would be happy to support the applicants in this process. 

At the press conference after the government meeting: Gruber, Kaiser and Provincial Councillor Daniel Fellner.(Bild: Felix Justich)

Authority takes issue with the term "industrial wind turbines"
The requirements for a referendum include neutral wording that is not judgmental. "There is particular criticism of the term 'industrial wind power plants' because it is clearly negative," explains Governor Peter Kaiser, adding: "It is also a suggestive question because the word 'protected' makes an assessment!"

At the same time, Governor Peter Kaiser emphasizes that the rights of the applicants are not diminished, but: "It is simply a matter of correct wording!"

Deadline by the end of the year?
The Freedom Party and the members of Team Carinthia had hoped that the people would be able to decide before the end of the year. Theoretically, the provincial government could already deal with a correct proposal in the next government meeting, so nothing would stand in the way of a referendum by the end of the year.

Provincial deputy Martin Gruber agrees with Kaiser: "We respect the desire for a consultation. But such a consultation must comply with the law!"

New attempt by the FPÖ and TK
Erwin Angerer and the eleven other MPs reacted pragmatically to the rejection. "Our primary goal must be to give the people of Carinthia the chance to have a say in Carinthia's future with regard to wind turbines," emphasizes the FPÖ leader. "Together with Gerhard Köfer and Team Kärnten as well as Dr. Edmund Primosch from the Constitutional Service, we will therefore be happy to adapt the question in such a way that the legal requirements for an early referendum are created."