Court of Auditors sees Austria as defaulting on UN targets
The Federal Government sees Austria as a pioneer in fulfilling the UN Sustainable Development Goals (“SDG”). A report published on Friday by the Court of Auditors shows that they are primarily resting on the laurels of a high level of development. No “gap analysis” was made, progress reports and concrete plans to improve the situation are missing. The importance of the topic would justify the appointment of a special representative, according to the Court of Justice.
The “Agenda 2030” adopted in 2015 comprises a total of 17 goals that are not only relevant for developing countries. In addition, all countries in the world should be encouraged to improve their social, economic and ecological situation. The arc ranges from the right to food to that to work and a clean environment to that to affordable energy.
Because of the special importance of the topic and because the Sustainable Development Goals affect all areas of policy, “it would be worthwhile to set up an organizational unit or institution – such as a committee, an advisory board, a council and/or a special representative – to advise the Federal Government and of Parliament,” says the report.
It was only last year that the then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) patted himself on the back during a visit to the UN headquarters in New York because Austria was in sixth place in a global comparison for fulfilling the 2030 Agenda. Austria is “very successful” in implementing the sustainability goals, he said.
The Court of Auditors’ report paints a different picture. So even six years after the start of the implementation of the UNO goals within states, what should actually be at the very beginning is still missing, namely a “gap analysis”. And unlike Germany and Switzerland, Austria has not yet adopted a comprehensive sustainability strategy that would provide a mechanism for the coherent implementation of sustainable measures involving the federal states and municipalities.
The Federal Chancellery rejected repeated requests from the Court of Auditors and, according to the report, argued as follows: “Experiences from other countries have shown that the creation of comprehensive national strategies ties up resources and time and often does not necessarily lead to the desired success.”
And how did you go about it instead? The federal states were addressed by means of a letter to the state governors, and an “SDG Dialogue Forum” was organized last September to involve civil society. And of course there were a number of working groups. But how important the issue is to the responsible ministries is shown by the fact that, according to the Court of Audit, almost only low-ranking civil servants (referents) without decision-making powers took part in inter-ministerial working groups. After corresponding criticism, Chancellery Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) attended this meeting in early 2021, and one was told that she wanted to meet at least once a year at section head level. In addition, RH criticism promised to involve Parliament.
The government is also late in preparing and publishing national progress reports. A corresponding promise to the Court of Auditors was not fulfilled. Also not implemented was the demand to anchor a pursuing consideration of the sustainable development goals – analogous to the equality goal – as an “impact goal of the federal government” when preparing the budget. The demand is open because the budget law has not been amended for nine years. And the significant consideration of social, economic and environmental policy goals when preparing the budget obviously does not justify any change in the budget law.