Tyrol's head of state Platter surprisingly announces his resignation

Created: 06/13/2022, 14:33

"Once is enough": Günther Platter was Prime Minister of Tyrol for 14 years and has been in politics for 36 years - now it should be over.

© Expa/Johann Groder/APA/dpa

As crisis manager of the Corona outbreak in Ischgl, Günther Platter made international headlines in spring 2020.

Now he is retiring – according to surveys, his ÖVP is threatened with a double-digit crash.

Innsbruck – In Austria, one of the most influential figures of the conservatives surprisingly leaves the political stage.

Tyrol's Prime Minister Günther Platter (ÖVP) wants to retire after 14 years in office and 36 years in politics.

"Once is enough," said the 68-year-old in Innsbruck.

Platter proposed the Tyrolean Economics Minister Anton Mattle (ÖVP) as his successor.

Mattle should also lead the party in the state elections, which will take place in 2023 at the latest.

The ÖVP currently governs in Tyrol - just like in the federal government - with the Greens.

With Platter, the ÖVP loses another popular top politician within a few days.

At the beginning of June, the Prime Minister of Styria, 70-year-old Hermann Schützenhöfer, resigned for reasons of age.

The ÖVP is threatened with a double-digit crash

The move came without warning.

The ÖVP is in the Tyrol as well as in the federal government in a survey low.

While Platter received almost 45 percent of the vote in his last election, a double-digit crash is now imminent.

"Platter no longer wanted to pick up this defeat," said political advisor Thomas Hofer of the German Press Agency.

The head of state was in the international limelight, especially at the beginning of the Corona crisis in spring 2020, when the crisis management in the Tyrolean ski resort of Ischgl was massively criticized.

After the first infections became known, thousands of tourists had fled the community and thus spread the virus.

However, Platter saw the responsibility for the departure chaos more at the federal level than at the state.

Target finances of the party

Platter's withdrawal is another sign that the ÖVP is not coming to rest.

In addition to weak polls and investigations by the public prosecutor's office against ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, among others, the party's finances are now once again being targeted.

In an unusual step, the Court of Auditors has the ÖVP’s 2019 election campaign expenses examined by auditors.

It is unlikely that the ÖVP actually only spent the 5.6 million euros it indicated for the elections to the National Council, it said last week.

dpa