
Austria tightens its belt: End subsidies and educational benefits
Austerity measures are already causing public controversy due to the potential impact on citizens and key social sectors.
The Austrian government, led by the coalition of the FPO and the OVP, presented the proposal for austerity measures aimed at reducing the budget deficit and avoiding "punitive" procedures by the European Union due to excessive deficit.
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The proposed measures include the potential abolition of the climate bonus, as well as a reduction in budget funds for educational programs, including educational absences.
FPO MP Arnold Schiffer said that part of the plan is to abolish the climate bonus or educational leave, because without such cuts it would not be possible to achieve significant savings.
- Educational leave is nice in good times, but now it is necessary to tighten the belt - stressed Schiffer.
The austerity plan envisages savings of 6,39 billion euros in 2025, which includes reducing subsidies, increasing the efficiency of public expenditure and adjusting the tax system.
First joint performance of Stocker and Kickle
FPO leader Herbert Kickle claims there will be no new taxes, especially not property or inheritance taxes. There will also be no increase in mass taxes, such as value added tax or mineral oil tax, and the corporate income tax will remain unchanged.
He emphasized that “what others failed to achieve in a hundred days, they achieved in just three days.” After 2026, according to Kickl, the state will once again have budgetary room for maneuver.
The main points of the proposal include a stabilization contribution to ministries, which would save 1,1 billion euros, increasing efficiency through reforms (savings of 240 million euros), reducing subsidies (savings of 3,18 billion euros), adjusting the tax system (savings of 920 million euros), and other measures would enable savings of another 950 million euros in total.
Coalition leaders Herbert Kickle (FPO) and Christian Stocker (OVP) announced that the agreement on these measures will be translated into a political statement, which they will sign and hand over to Finance Minister Günter Mayer to deliver the documentation to Brussels.
This was the first joint public appearance of the leaders of the FPO and the OVP since the beginning of the coalition negotiations. The austerity measures are already causing public controversy due to the potential impact on citizens and key social sectors.
Stocker defends the decision to negotiate with Kickle
Austrian People's Party leader Christian Stocker admits that the OVP's key task is rebuilding its own credibility after negotiations began with Herbert Kickl, the leader of the Free Party of Austria (FPO), despite earlier statements to the contrary.
Although he was one of Kickl's harshest critics during the election campaign, after the failure of negotiations with the Social Democratic Party of Austria (CPO) and Neos, he began negotiations to form a government with the FPO leader. Stocker, however, stressed that his attitude towards Kickle has not changed.
- I know what I said and I stand behind it, but I also know that now I am doing something that I previously said I would not do - he said, adding that the leader of the Social Democrats, Andreas Babler, is responsible for the failure of the negotiations with CPO and Neos.
Stocker said he was aware of the concerns of international security experts about the possibility of Herbert Kickl becoming chancellor, particularly because of the potential impact on Austrian intelligence services. He emphasized that the goal is to achieve results from the negotiations that will remove those doubts, but he did not want to go into details. In addition, he admitted that there is a risk that Kikl at the level of the European Union, for example in connection with the support for Ukraine, will act contrary to the agreement, but added that such situations cannot be completely avoided.