"My trust belongs to August Woeginger"
Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Governor of Lower Austria, has called on Vienna to uphold its financial commitments under the fiscal equalisation system. The region currently pays €500 million yearly to cover the costs of treating out-of-state patients in the capital. Meanwhile, she has also voiced sharp criticism of political delays and centralisation trends in the upcoming reform partnership between federal and state governments.
Mikl-Leitner condemned Vienna’s handling of patients from other states as unacceptable. For decades, she argued, a cooperative approach had been standard—one that now appears to be unravelling. She stressed that Lower Austria’s annual €500 million contribution must be respected, in line with existing agreements.
On broader reforms, she warned against excessive centralisation, insisting that decisions work best when made close to the people. A proposal by Sepp Schellhorn to shrink Austria’s nine federal states into just three was dismissed as 'utter nonsense,' with Mikl-Leitner defending the current structure as vital to the country’s identity. She also backed Lower Austria’s *Health Plan 2040 Plus*, a long-term strategy to maintain high-quality healthcare with fewer hospitals. While praising Chancellor Christian Stocker as a proactive leader, she criticised the coalition’s slow pace in boosting the economy and industry. Poll struggles for the ÖVP, SPÖ, and Neos were noted, but she urged focus on reviving economic growth rather than political infighting. Despite her frustrations, Mikl-Leitner remains optimistic about the reform partnership’s potential for success—if decentralisation and local decision-making stay at its core.
Mikl-Leitner’s demands place pressure on Vienna to honour financial obligations while resisting over-centralisation. The Health Plan 2040 Plus and her defence of Austria’s federal structure signal a push for regional autonomy. With economic recovery as her priority, she insists that political energy must shift from debate to decisive action.
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
