Demand from Seggau

Budget crisis: Styrians want more money from Vienna

Party leaders Mario Kunasek (FPÖ) and Manuela Khom (ÖVP) set the pace at the retreat in Seggau(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

The coalition retreat in Seggau Castle in southern Styria is also dominated by the state's crumbling finances: FPÖ state governor Mario Kunasek submits a 7-point list of demands to the federal government - above all, they want to get more money for Styria in the upcoming financial equalization negotiations.

The sun was shining brightly, as was the eight-member blue-black coalition team, including the two heads of parliamentary groups, as they took their place in front of the picturesque Seggau castle backdrop for the government group photo. As the doors to the meeting room in the old Styrian bishop's residence closed for the closed meeting, one involuntarily thought of a conclave in the Vatican. And it was clear from the outset that important topics - FPÖ state governor Mario Kunasek described them as "lighthouses" - would cause white smoke to rise.

Second cash fall - now for the new ÖVP leader
These priorities are the payment card for asylum seekers, the end of the Luft-Hunderter on the A 9 near Graz and on other sections as well as the reduction of bureaucracy in the economic sector.

ÖVP leader Manuela Khom, who did not witness the cash crash live during the government negotiations at Graz Airport because Christopher Drexler was still at the helm, has now been officially informed of the dismal budget figures by head of finance Peter Ebner. Since the "Krone" reported on the deficit of 900 million in 2024, the people of Styria have also known the bitter truth.

Good relationship: Mario Kunasek and Manuela Khom(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

7-point list of demands to the federal government
What the provincial governments will also nod off together today: a 7-point list of demands to the federal government. Among them are well-known issues: the insistence on the three-lane expansion of the A 9 highway in the south of the country, which was stopped by Green Minister Leonore Gewessler, and the maintenance of the Graz-Vienna flight connection. Hence the symbolic FPÖ-ÖVP meeting at Thalerhof Airport in December.

And then it's all about hitting the table in the upcoming financial equalization negotiations in Vienna and getting more money. After all, Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, the black state finance minister, wants to "end the decades of discrimination against Styria". Then to the economy: the federal government should also help to "strengthen the location" of the Green Mark.

Friday ended in the Gamlitzer Buschenschank Pongratz, where the members of parliament from the governing parties were also invited.