Upper Austria rejects urgent motions on A26 costs and animal transports

Upper Austria’s state parliament rejected the urgency of two motions on Thursday: one calling for a cap on the state’s contribution to the A26 Westring road project, and another seeking to end commercial live-animal transports through Linz-Hörsching Airport, ORF reported. Both motions will now be considered by parliamentary committees.

Green Party parliamentary leader Severin Mayr criticised the ÖVP, FPÖ and SPÖ for opposing urgent consideration of the proposed cost cap. He said the parties were ignoring their responsibility for the project’s rising costs. The Westring was initially budgeted at 646 million euros, but its projected cost has since doubled to 1.3 billion euros.

The Greens called on Upper Austria to negotiate a limit on its contribution with the project’s other contractual partners. Mayr warned that the final cost was unpredictable and could leave the state facing a heavy financial burden.

The motion on animal transports followed criticism of a shipment of more than 655 cattle to Turkmenistan in early October. Green MP Rudi Hemetsberger called for commercial animal transports through the airport to end, saying: “No animal suffering on Upper Austrian soil. That is what we want.”

The FPÖ, ÖVP, SPÖ and MFG opposed urgent consideration of the motion. FPÖ MP Peter Handlos said live-animal transports took place around the world every day. MFG MP Manuel Krautgartner and SPÖ MP Mario Haas said animals were living beings, not ordinary cargo. ÖVP MP Josef Naderer said the transports had been legally permitted.