Austria must use aid opportunities – Südtirol News
The Federation of Industrialists (IV) criticizes a “race” for all national subsidies in an “actually united Europe” in view of the many crises and, above all, energy aid. Austria remains “at the back of the field” and makes “only delayed use of EU state aid options”, criticized IV President Georg Knill to the APA. Harald Mahrer, President of the Chamber of Commerce and the President of the ÖVP, recently expressed similar criticism.
In his criticism, the head of IV refers to a study by the consulting firm EY, which depicts the international subsidy race. Concern prevails in the domestic economy above all because of the plans for the reliable trading partner Germany. “Unless a viable European solution can be found quickly, the latest German plans for a gas and electricity price cap for companies and households in the coming year will cause us great concern,” affirmed Knill. There is a risk of a situation in which the immediate neighbors “produce much more cheaply than the local companies”. In contrast to the domestic companies, the foreign competition would also have “a clear ability to plan for the coming year”.
It’s about a package worth between 2 and 3 billion euros, said IV Secretary General Christoph Neumayer of the ORF “ZiB”. The first domestic companies would lose orders to Germans, since they could be better calculated due to planning security.
“As a result, we have no choice but to react as quickly as possible with further measures at national level in order to be able to survive in national and intra-European competition,” says Knill. In addition to the IV, the WKÖ and, among the parties, the SPÖ and the FPÖ have recently demanded such an approach from the turquoise-green federal government. In the meantime, Upper Austria’s governor and deputy party leader Thomas Stelzer has also spoken out from the ÖVP. The newspaper “Österreich” also said of him: If the EU does not find a way quickly, Austria must provide national help.
Knill also says that “all the national measures, be they direct grants or price caps, can only combat symptoms”. “What is actually needed is a European solution.” According to the industrialist, there is conflict in times when it is necessary to work together. The various national loans deal with subsidies, price caps, network fee reductions, indirect emission cost compensation, tax and levy-related measures and guarantees.
From: apa