Two years of Corona in Austria: where is the boss?
The light at the end of the tunnel is currently shining brighter than ever, but that is by no means a guarantee that the evil magic will soon be over. Nevertheless, less strong measures apply with immediate effect, and almost all of them will expire in two weeks. Only Vienna is tougher, which shows how absurd the situation has long been – apparently the virus can read place-name signs. If everything weren’t so sobering, the freedom calls wouldn’t have a stale aftertaste from all sides – the catalog of measures, which has been changed again and again, could go down in history as the greatest satirical project, not only in Austria.
There is disagreement (and perplexity) as to which regulations make sense (and which apply at all). Let’s also turn to the equally complex question of how the decision-making processes work or run. At the beginning of the pandemic (attentive readers will remember Chancellor Kurz and the virological quartet), the top government makes the decisions in a way that is public and de facto itself. As the crisis progressed, the call for experts became louder – suddenly Austria was not just a country full of team bosses and opera directors, but also one of the virologists.
With Chancellor Nehammer and the founding of the Gecko Commission, the decisions were finally outsourced, but this did not make them any clearer. How you do it is also wrong. In any case, one now has the feeling that neither the government nor a committee of experts makes the decisions, but that everything is due to the mood of the population.
The voter is sovereign – this saying has rarely been true. If he is in favor of repealing measures, they are repealed. If the mood tilts when vaccination is compulsory, it will be at least half tilted and toothless. However, this shift in power does not come from a particular sense of democracy, but from the fear of electoral defeats. Corona and populism are neighboring viruses, neither the government nor the opposition is immune.
“Where is the head of this strange institution?” Franz Morak sang about being locked up 40 years ago, albeit behind bars. But the question per se is still appropriate when the hot potato is being tossed back and forth.