2023-10-29 20:00:35
Innsbruck (OTS) – A ban on donations for political parties would be an important step towards greater transparency. The credibility of politics has suffered massively in recent years. On the other hand, democracy must also be worth something to us.
Politics in Austria has managed to be met with distrust and suspicion with full force. Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen has had to make it clear more than once in the past that we are not like that. But unfortunately this is not the case for a certain guard of politicians.
As always, it’s regarding money, positions and functions as well as lucrative contracts in the area of their activities. The result is then protest and an unfair generalization. Politicians should therefore not be surprised if, late at night, at the regulars’ table drinking beer or wine, they are mostly nothing more than idiots and cashiers. And the parties are suddenly described as an opaque network that spends enormous amounts of money on for its own cause during the election campaign. Millions of tax money for percentages and mandates.
In this almost impenetrable thicket of credibility deficits, established politics is hanging on the ropes. If the population only turns away with a shudder from the way their representatives take turns in the dock, it will be difficult to promote a properly funded party system. Because democracy costs money, it should ultimately be worth something to all citizens. These include well-paid politicians and parties who provide important foundations for the further development of the state. Otherwise the door is opened to arbitrariness.
What would be the alternative? Parties and politicians focused on donations and favoritism who do not have the common good in mind, but rather engage in patronage politics with their decisions. A donation ban, as is now being discussed in Tyrol and is to come, is good and right. Given the eight million euros in annual party funding, this is more than justifiable. But there is no way around comprehensive transparency in all areas of political activity.
Politicians with multiple salaries who also sit on countless supervisory and control committees, election campaign cost overruns such as those of the Tyrolean ÖVP in the 2022 state election campaign or mandates who make full use of their privileges as civil servants on leave are poison. Today more than ever, party democracy needs people in charge with a fundamentally honest and highly decent self-image. The discussion regarding a ban on party donations is the consequence of the constant loss of trust. However, it is also a step towards more transparency.
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