Blue and black

Beacon of hope or nail in the coffin for Upper Austria?

WKOÖ President Doris Hummer hopes that the coalition negotiators will agree on reforms. Green Party leader Stefan Kaineder paints a gloomy blue-black picture.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Cityfoto/Wolfgang Simlinger APA/Tobias Steinmaurer)

Because the economic wing of the ÖVP has prevailed, nothing has come of the "Zuckerl-Koalition" - this is the story behind the ÖVP's negotiations with the FPÖ. Opinions are divided as to whether blue-black is actually a blessing or a curse for Upper Austria as a business location.

Even if there is still bewilderment in the provincial ÖVP about the fact that their party - contrary to all election promises - is about to make FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl chancellor: In the ÖVP-dominated Chamber of Commerce (WKOÖ), confidence prevails in view of the coalition negotiations that started on Monday. WKOÖ President Doris Hummer apparently believes that Black-Blue will be a blessing for the local economy.

Entrepreneurs remain motivated
The drive and passion of Upper Austrian businesspeople is "unbroken despite the difficult economic situation", she says. "It is now up to politicians to efficiently fuel this great entrepreneurial energy," she tells the negotiators in Vienna.

How 2025 could be a good year
Specifically, she is calling for a reduction in bureaucracy - overseen by an "anti-bureaucracy advocate" - and relief for the labor factor: the tax rate must be reduced to below 40 percent. In addition, a 20 percent flat-rate tax on additional pension income and overtime should be introduced. With such "turbos for performance and personal responsibility", 2025 could still be a good year, hopes Hummer.

What is happening here feels surreal. We are experiencing how the entire climate protection system is being driven against the wall and cut into booming sectors.

Stefan Kaineder, Landessprecher Grüne OÖ

Blue-black as a "worst case scenario"
From the other side of the political spectrum, however, more pessimistic tones can be heard. From the perspective of the Upper Austrian Greens, a blue-black government would be the "worst case" - also for the economy. The expected dismantling of climate protection measures and the end of climate subsidies would "above all affect many companies, the economy, the labor market and thus the entire location to an extent that is not yet foreseeable", says Green Party leader Stefan Kaineder.

5000 jobs lost
There have already been initial reactions from the heating industry, for example: according to calculations by the guild of plumbers, the abolition of subsidies for boiler replacements alone would suddenly cost 5,000 jobs. Kaineder is certain that the "blue-black aberration" will hit the energy-intensive industrial location of Upper Austria. But he also still has hope - that nothing will come of blue-black: "There are also so many ÖVP functionaries and voters who do not feel represented and understood by all this. There is still time to reflect and change course."