Around the keynote speech by VP chairman Karl Nehammer, rumors also emerged that the Chancellor could use the opportunity to bring forward the National Council elections to the spring. The excitement has now subsided. At the weekend, Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig (VP) contributed to consolidating the signals that the black-green coalition wants to continue until the last possible date in the fall. In the ORF magazine “Hohes Haus” Totschnig announced that the open questions regarding the abolition of fully slatted floors in pig farming would be clarified with the Greens during this legislative period, i.e. “until the election on September 29th”.
There was no official confirmation of the minister’s announcement from the Federal Chancellery. If this first concrete appointment from a member of the government holds, then the Black-Green coalition would be only the second coalition to fully utilize a five-year term since the extension.
