Achammer leaves the leadership of SVP, ‘it was an honor’

(ANSA) – BOLZANO, 04 MAY – “This is not a farewell, but I am just leaving a role that I held with a lot of commitment and conviction. To those who think that I am away now, I say: don’t make this mistake. It was an honor “. With these words the outgoing SVP secretary Philipp Achammer concluded his speech during the extraordinary congress of the Volkspartei in Merano. “As a former secretary, I will always be constructive to advance our goals,” he said, addressing his successor Dieter Steger. “I am still convinced of the validity of the collection party model. It is good for South Tyrol. This is why commit yourself to this model and continue on this path, which is the right one”, said Achammer. According to the 38-year-old, “the fight for autonomy has kept us together. This glue no longer has the same strength in recent years”. Achammer then warned of the growing fragmentation in the Provincial Council and criticized the ability to find compromise. The outgoing secretary then invited us to abandon “any reasoning of a struggle between currents”. “The SVP was born out of the resistance. That’s why we have to speak up when a councilor says that politicians should be sent to work in the mines,” Achammer said in reference to Jürgen Wirth Anderlan’s speech at an FPÖ event in Austria. “It is shameful – he said to the FPÖ – that these words are applauded. Let us fight together for democracy, rights and freedom”. (HANDLE).