2023-07-25 09:10:15
Municipal Association President Alfred Riedl (ÖVP) sees himself confronted with demands for his resignation in a presidium meeting on Tuesday followingnoon because of questionable property deals. As the municipal association vice-president and president of the Lower Austrian SP association of municipal representatives, the mayor of Ternitz, Rupert Dworak, explained to the APA, the social democratic representatives will suggest Riedl’s withdrawal in order to avert further damage to the municipal association.
A motion of no confidence cannot be introduced for formal reasons. According to the statute, the Federal Executive Board is responsible for the election of the President as the supreme body of the Association of Municipalities. This is chaired by the President, who convenes it at least twice a year.
He had already suggested Riedl’s resignation in a telephone call, said Dworak. After all, the cause caused “huge damage” to the community association. Credibility also suffers, which Dworak believes is not very beneficial in times of financial equalization negotiations. Even if the transactions had been carried out lawfully, there would still be a “stale followingtaste” and a “crooked look”.
Dworak is curious to see how the VP representatives in the Association of Municipalities will behave on Tuesday, as they are in the majority with seven to three members in the Presidium. Recently, however, there were also critical words from the western state associations or Styria. In any case, the pressure on Riedl had increased, and the outcome of the meeting seemed uncertain.
According to media reports, Riedl is said to have earned more than one million euros through property sales in his home town of Grafenwörth (Tulln district), where he holds the office of mayor. Some terraced houses have already been built on the sold areas. As part of the “Sonnenweiher” project, more than 200 houses are to be built around a foil lake on other plots of land. The construction is said to have been made possible by rezoning and a relocation of municipal boundaries decided by the municipal council.
Criticism came repeatedly from other parties and environmental protection organizations. And on Tuesday, in the run-up to the video conference of the municipal council, Greenpeace once more demanded the immediate resignation of the municipal association president. On the one hand, Riedl earned money by sealing fertile soil and, at the same time, is negotiating a soil protection strategy, according to the accusation. Criticism also came from the nature conservation organization WWF. The nature-destroying project is “clearly in contradiction to spatial planning and climate policy objectives and is therefore ecologically devastating even apart from dubious property deals”.
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