Austria: South Tyrol subcommittee meets Governor Kompatscher
The sub-committee chaired by Hermann Gahr is currently in South Tyrol. Traditionally, an exchange with the provincial governor is also on the agenda, during which today the traffic problems along the Brenner corridor, the development of the Euregio Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino, but also topics such as the place name regulation or the pardon of Heinrich Oberleiter, one of the four ” Puschtra Buibm”, were discussed.
Both Governor Arno Kompatscher and several members of the South Tyrol subcommittee referred to the commemorative year 2022, in which both the 30th anniversary of the dispute settlement between Austria and Italy on June 11th and “50 years of the 2nd Autonomy Statute” on September 5th to be started.
light and shadow
When asked about the status of autonomy, Kompatscher spoke of ups and downs: “With the financial agreements of 2014 and 2021, have we achieved such far-reaching safeguards for financial autonomy as never before. On the other hand, our responsibilities are repeatedly undermined by a one-sided interpretation of the Italian constitutional reform of 2001. In the commemorative year in Rome, we want to achieve political clarification on our indisputable addressees,” explained the governor.
Austria can assist here by speaking out whenever the level of autonomy falls below the point at which the dispute was settled in 1992. The South Tyrol sub-committee can “support the South Tyrol cause above all by supporting successfully negotiated compromises, while extreme demands are usually counterproductive.”
From the traffic issue to the regulation of place names
On the subject of transport, Governor Kompatscher spoke out in favor of cost truth for freight and passenger transport. This requires a combined model of a higher toll along the Brenner corridor – with the burden on emission-generating vehicles and relief for emission-free vehicles – together with an intelligent slot and booking system, which has a limited effect when there is a high volume of traffic on the Brenner motorway. However, Kompatscher also called for solidarity with the northern partners: “Restrictive measures only work if they are implemented along the entire corridor.”
The governor is pleased with the development in the Euregion, which has led to a constant exchange at the political level, but also to an increased desire of the population for cross-border cooperation in linguistic and cultural diversity.
The state of South Tyrol already stands by the existing compromise proposal for the place name regulation, which provides for all historical German and Ladin-speaking names, but also all Italian names actually used by the population, to be officially recognized – on the condition that the historical injustice is also recognized and died out unused Italian names should be abolished.