TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG, editorial: “South Tyrol, what now?”, by Peter Nindler

2023-10-23 20:01:07

Issue from Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Innsbruck (OTS) – After the election debacle for the South Tyrolean People’s Party and with a party landscape that has been fragmented since Sunday, there is a threat of political instability south of the Brenner. Forming a government will be a tightrope act for LH Arno Kompatscher.

What Governor Arno Kompatscher from the South Tyrolean People’s Party (SVP) feared happened on Sunday: After the state elections, the political landscape in South Tyrol is more fragmented and unstable than ever before. Because the SVP achieved its historically worst election result with 34.5 percent, protest parties such as South Tyrolean Freedom made gains and the Italian factions fell well short of expectations. For a stable majority, at least two, if not three, additional coalition partners are needed. Including Italian-speaking representatives.

As bitter as the defeat may seem for the SVP at first glance, Governor Kompatscher indirectly strengthens it. His former opponent within the party and ex-state health councilor Thomas Widmann, who ran with his own list, only achieved one mandate. The dispute caused immense damage to the collecting party, but it also did not benefit Widmann. He now sits in the state parliament and is history. There are also no real alternatives to Kompatscher in the SVP. Above all, he is most likely to be able to not only lead the difficult coalition negotiations, but also to steer the new government as state governor in a pragmatic, balanced and stable manner. Completely in the spirit of autonomy.

But where is South Tyrol heading politically? First, the SVP has to clarify which German-speaking party it can work with. The bourgeois-liberal Köllensperger team would probably be the first point of contact here. This could even mean a center-left government with the Partito Democratico and the new Italian citizens’ list La Civica. However, that doesn’t seem likely. Rather, the SVP will stick to the post-fascist Fratelli of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the right-wing Lega who rule in Rome. Ultimately, it’s about a good relationship with the Italian government. Most recently in Bolzano there was a coalition with the Lega, which governs together with Meloni.

In any case, the myth of the SVP as a collective party is finally over, which is why it cannot move on to the agenda. Personnel consequences such as a possible resignation of party chairman Philipp Achammer are unlikely to occur for the time being; in view of the difficult coalition negotiations, the plucked Edelweiss will probably currently invoke unity and unity. There have been enough arguments in the SVP over the past year and a half, and their election debacle is a result of it.