Politics in a Dilemma

Aid for Farmers: First In-Person Crisis Summit

While nature suffers from the drought, the government is—once again—struggling to reach a compromise.(Bild: APA/HARALD SCHNEIDER)

The struggle over heatwave aid within the government continues. The hoped-for agreement this week already seems to be off the table. However, at least one initial crisis summit is scheduled to take place within the coalition today, Friday. 

“What comes first—the end of the heat wave along with rain, or the government’s heat relief measures that have been promised for weeks?” That’s the question Austrian farmers are asking themselves these days. If you ask around within the coalition, you’re more likely to hear the former: Starting Monday, temperatures will drop across much of the country.

The solution to the dispute over heat relief aid, targeted for Friday, was not yet in sight during Thursday’s rounds of negotiations. At the very least, however, negotiations are continuing at a higher level.

Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig has called for further talks.(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Former Minister Calls for Speed
On Friday, an initial in-person crisis summit is scheduled to take place between ÖVP Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig, SPÖ government coordinator Michaela Schmidt, and a representative of NEOS. “The ÖVP is insisting on rapid aid for affected farmers. The SPÖ, on the other hand, opposes drawing on the agricultural sector’s own social security reserves—and is attempting to force an agreement on the Climate Protection Act by demanding the reversal of the agricultural diesel tax hike,” said a negotiator regarding the drought dilemma.

While nature suffers from the drought, the government is—once again—struggling to reach a compromise.(Bild: APA/HARALD SCHNEIDER)

“These games are completely inappropriate. The SPÖ’s demand to roll back the agricultural diesel subsidy completely misses the point,” says former Agriculture Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich (ÖVP) with frustration. He calls for a “swift agreement and effective subsidies.” One possible solution, for example, would be to suspend social security contributions in the fourth quarter—as Lower Austria’s Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf had called for.

Meanwhile, Farmers’ Union President Georg Strasser is also hoping for swift aid. Where the feed for his cows normally grows, the pasture is completely parched this year, as Strasser shows in an Instagram video from his farm in Nöchling, Lower Austria. The dramatic consequences of the ongoing drought are thus affecting him both politically and personally.

“For us farmers, climate change is not an abstract debate. We experience its consequences every day,” he says.