Flawed law

No impeachment of opposition city councillor after all

Benjamin Plach (SPÖ), Chairman of the Legal and Compatibility Committee(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

The center-left coalition in Innsbruck will not initiate impeachment proceedings against the critical opposition city councillor Markus Stoll (DNI) after all. He defended himself with an expert opinion from a renowned university professor - successfully and at his own expense. 

His position as managing director of a timber trading company in the district of Innsbruck-Land was incompatible with his work as a non-executive city councillor in the provincial capital: this was the verdict of the Legal and Incompatibility Committee in Innsbruck in September last year with regard to opposition city councillor Markus Stoll (Das Neue Innsbruck). Now, three months and a legal opinion from the University of Innsbruck later, everything is different. The planned impeachment proceedings have recently been shelved.

We have had a possible incompatibility due to a federal legal requirement examined.

Rechtsausschuss-Obmann Benjamin Plach (SPÖ)

No support from the ÖVP business party
But how did this 180-degree turnaround come about? It was already clear beforehand that StR Stoll has no powers comparable to those of an executive city councillor and that Kematen is not Innsbruck. "We had a possible incompatibility checked due to a federal legal requirement," explained the responsible legal committee chairman Benjamin Plach (SPÖ), himself a lawyer. StR Stoll used the three-month deadline and commissioned a corresponding expert opinion from constitutional law expert Prof. Peter Bußjäger at his own expense.

Arbitrary assumptions in a 100-year-old law
This has now brought to light questionable shortcomings in the law, which according to the expert is 100 years old. No distinction was made between the different forms of office holding, nor was consideration given to different types of corporations or gainful employment. The selection is completely arbitrary. This contradicts the principle of equality.

In the case of Mariella Lutz (JA), a member of the Economic Council, no incompatibility with her activity as an entrepreneur was recognized, despite holding office. The reason: a GmbH is covered, a KG is not. Lutz has since liquidated her company.