Dispute over commentary

“Censorship”: election campaign spills over to farmers

Anyone who believes that the election campaign stops at the gates of the lobby is mistaken. There are disputes in Museumgasse.(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

Things are currently not going well at the Carinthian Chamber of Agriculture. The blue deputy head is annoyed about "opinion censorship".

Admittedly, the election campaign in Carinthia so far has been rather moderate - no unfair accusations or wild insults, no shouting matches or personal attacks; at most, there have been a few side blows. Apparently, however, this has not yet filtered through to the Chamber of Agriculture, because there is now a real row going on there.

As is well known, the Carinthian Freedom Party in particular has been trying to win over the "farmers" voter group for some time, and at the beginning of the year was still harshly critical of the ÖVP's agricultural policy. Now the election campaign seems to have found its way into the headquarters in Museumgasse in Klagenfurt, where the chamber's leadership, of all people, is at loggerheads: Vice President Roman Linder (Freedom Farmers) accuses LK President Siegfried Huber (Farmers' Association) of "opinion censorship" - but what is it actually about?

Huber and Linder (next picture) are no longer on particularly good terms.(Bild: (c)Paul Gruber)

The trigger is a commentary for the "Kärntner Bauer".(Bild: zVg)

Each of the 36 chamber councillors is allowed to write a commentary for the LK's weekly magazine, "Kärntner Bauer". This covers a wide range of topics relating to the representation of Carinthian farmers' interests. Linder wanted to use his platform to demand, among other things, the abolition of the "president's pension" - after ten years in office, the Chamber of Agriculture finances a lifelong pension for the respective presidents, in addition to the statutory salary. It was to be expected that such a demand would anger the current head of the LK, Huber.

President remains tight-lipped
And so the comment was summarily removed: "Apparently, diversity of opinion is not welcome in the Chamber of Agriculture," says his blue vice president angrily. Although there is no legal entitlement to publication, there is still a skewed view - does the president have a thin skin? "That's an internal issue, I don't give any information on that," says Huber, keeping his comments brief. In any case, the issue is not yet closed, and a meeting is to be held soon. The debate will then presumably continue ...