The controversy reached a peak last week when Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) agreed to the controversial Nature Restoration Law at an EU Council of Ministers meeting. Due to this Austrian support, a narrow majority was still achieved despite the explicit request from Chancellor Karl Nehammer to abstain from voting.
This led to a sharp reaction from the ÖVP and worsened the already tense relationship between the coalition partners. They accused Minister Gewessler of cooperating in a political power play by European green politicians to push through the Nature Restoration Plan of Environment Commissioner Sinkevicius.
The Nature Restoration Law requires, among other things, that EU member states restore at least 30% of their natural habitats by 2030, with further targets set for 2040 and 2050. Over the past year and a half of negotiations in Brussels, most mandatory elements were removed from the proposal, and many countries received ‘individual exemptions for exceptional national situations.’ Ultimately, only six countries voted against the proposal, including the Netherlands.
During an impromptu press conference in Vienna, Chancellor Nehammer spoke of a serious breach of trust and suggested that cooperation with the Greens is on shaky ground. The Chancellor is initiating legal procedures against his own minister at EU courts, but it is already clear that Brussels is dismissing this as ‘domestic Austrian matters.’
ÖVP Agriculture Minister Totschnig accused Minister Gewessler of using her EU voting behavior as the start of her campaign for the parliamentary elections. Just last week, the cabinet had decided to set September 29 as the date for those elections. The Greens call Totschnig’s accusation a blame game, since less than two weeks ago he presented ‘his own ÖVP agricultural plan.’
So far, the ÖVP has refrained from toppling the already caretaker coalition. Due to the entire commotion, last week’s weekly ministers’ meeting was handled in writing only, and the difficult dossier on animal welfare and modernization of pigsties is also at risk of stalling.
The Austrian court recently annulled the previous coalition decision to allow the pig farming sector until 2040 to replace their ‘disapproved’ slatted floors in stables. In response, the Greens’ minister for Animal Welfare proposed making the deadline 2030 instead, but this was rejected by Austrian agriculture (and the ÖVP). This is now once again becoming a point of contention in the heated Austrian election campaign.