Gamon calls Vorarlberg climate policy “tragically vague”

NEOS Vorarlberg leader Claudia Gamon has called for faster and more specific action on climate adaptation, childcare and healthcare, saying the state government’s approach remains “tragically vague”. She made the remarks in an ORF Vorarlberg summer interview published on Thursday.

Speaking to editor-in-chief Angelika Simma-Wallinger against the backdrop of a dry summer and concerns about water shortages, Gamon said the government’s climate adaptation strategy contained many sound analyses but failed to answer the question: “What are we actually going to do?”

She called for investment in water infrastructure, measures to address heat and protection against heavy rain and natural disasters. Older people, families with young children and pregnant women were particularly vulnerable, she said. Gamon chairs the state climate protection committee and said the government should disclose after the summer which measures had actually been implemented since the climate strategy was presented.

Spatial planning and the impact of soil sealing also needed greater attention, she said. Gamon cited the redesigned village square in Egg as an example of how municipalities could adapt to climate change. “We should stop seeing climate protection as an opponent,” she said, arguing that it also protected the foundations of the economy and people’s livelihoods.

Gamon also criticised state deputy governor Christof Bitschi of the FPÖ over the new public transport fare system. She said many people had found the reform confusing and that some journeys had become significantly more expensive. “People were really standing there at the ticket machines at a loss,” she said. In her view, higher fares contradicted the goal of encouraging more people to switch to public transport.

On childcare, Gamon said Vorarlberg remained at the bottom on issues including fathers’ parental leave and part-time work. She attributed this to historical developments, political conditions and cultural factors.

She was particularly critical of childcare costs. Families with two children often paid several hundred euros to as much as 1,000 euros a month, she said. This meant that many highly qualified women stayed at home because increasing their working hours would require them to spend the additional income on childcare. At the same time, businesses were reporting a shortage of skilled workers.

Gamon also called the nine-week summer holidays a problem and said summer childcare should be regulated by law in the same way as childcare during the rest of the school year. Parents often had no way to organise care for the entire holiday period, she said. She praised the summer school programme, which she described as having attracted “a real rush” of participants.

Gamon said many municipalities were facing financial pressure. Cooperation between municipalities, such as the Regio Bregenzerwald cooperation, could help them remain economically viable but had limits, she said. The state government should show leadership and identify possible model regions for voluntary municipal mergers to secure the long-term future of small municipalities and valleys.

In healthcare, Gamon renewed her call for two large hospital locations in Vorarlberg, one in the north and one in the south of the state.