After a video appeared on Twitter on Wednesday evening showing Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) in a convivial atmosphere, the Chancellor received criticism on Thursday. In the recording he is outraged about women who work part-time, the discussion about child poverty and social partnership. However, ÖGB, Caritas, the opposition and the green coalition partner are outraged by the video. The Chancellor justified himself in a video on Twitter.
With “Have you seen the discussion on social media about a video of mine?” Nehammer addresses his followers on the short message service Twitter (X) and defends the content of the controversial video: “I believe that performance must be worth it, and I believe that parents have a duty of care for their children.” And further: “Anyone who says that there are no warm meals for children in Austria is putting this country in a bad light.”
“Do you know what the cheapest hot meal is?”
When the video appeared yesterday on the short message service …),” the video begins, recorded during a visit to the ÖVP Hallein at the end of July. What follows is Nehammer’s outrageous speech to party friends. For example, about women who work part-time even though they have no care responsibilities. But even when it is said that there are children who don’t get a warm meal, that upsets the Chancellor: “Do you know what the cheapest warm meal in Austria is? It’s not healthy, but it’s cheap: a hamburger at McDonald’s,” said Nehammer. The ÖVP confirmed the Chancellor’s statements to Puls 24.
One should not get lost in this discussion. “Then that means: Every parent has to register their child with the state, we make calorie tables, we look at how much food the child gets, how it is fed and then we are in the GDR.”
“Yes, yes, I’m with you, I’ll come to that,” the Chancellor calls out to a listener who interrupts the speech and says he has no problem with someone working 30 hours or 20, but “without subsidies “All of us who work hard.” Nehammer’s answer: “What’s real in Austria? What’s real is, I haven’t talked to you about any of this. Why? Because then the union comes here and the Chamber of Commerce comes here and says: ‘Hey, clean up, social partnership, Social partnership!'”
Andreas Babler reacted…
Just a few hours after the video was published, SPÖ leader Andreas Babler responded to it on X. He wrote: “The Austrians deserve a chancellor who respects people instead of despising them.” At a press conference that was arranged at short notice on Thursday, he also did not spare his criticism: “In the video we see a Chancellor who despises the people for something that he himself is responsible for. Nehammer ties people’s shoes and calls out when they fall he ‘gets up and keeps running’.”
Almost every woman who works part-time has to do so because of caring responsibilities. In his speech, Babler also made sure to talk about his childhood. His mother had to take him to work and hide him there so that she wouldn’t get into trouble. Austria deserves a Chancellor who respects the people and doesn’t judge them for “23,000 euros a month on wine and cheese snacks.”
With a view to the National Council elections in about a year, Babler said, the video at least shows “what could happen to us under the next black-blue government.” Nehammer tells us today “that wages should not be increased, tomorrow that pensions should not be increased and the day after tomorrow that savings will be made in the health care system.” When asked by journalists about a possible coalition with the ÖVP under Karl Nehammer, Babler replied that “anyone who doesn’t like people would be eliminated as a coalition partner.”
… just like Herbert Kickl…
FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl expressed himself in much more detail on Facebook. The “wine cellar video” shows the “true face of the ÖVP Chancellor”. “And someone like that is the head of a ‘PEOPLE’S party’? A man who, in a worldly manner, insults people from a high horse? A man who has fallen on the buttery side of life and who despises others who have to fight hard? “Someone who is so heartless towards children? That’s just sad. A politician who is so empathetic, aloof, ice-cold and shows such contempt for people suffering from poverty is unsuitable for the job as Chancellor.”
… Werner Kogler
When asked about the video at a press conference on Thursday, Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler said he had heard a lot about the video but had not seen it yet. “I’ll be annoyed after I’ve looked at it, or not.” Kogler, on the other hand, praised the government’s work, specifically the package against child poverty. “If this (video, note) now attracts attention – possibly justified – then it is a good time for the government and also for the ÖVP part to accelerate what was announced (…).”
… Sigrid Maurer
Club chairman Sigrid Maurer specified on Twitter: “The part-time quota will only change when there is actually freedom of choice – with a corresponding expansion of childcare. The Chancellor himself announced this – now is a good time to put these words into action. “
… Johannes Rauch
Green Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch describes it as cynical to tell people in need that it is their own fault or that they should serve their children fast food. “Two very different parties with sometimes very different values work together in the government. The Chancellor himself says at the end of this video that his ideas cannot be implemented with the Greens. And that’s a good thing.” He also praises the relief measures decided by the government due to inflation. “We cannot and do not want to watch child poverty increase: That’s why there is an additional 60 euros per child per month for those who particularly need it – the payment begins today, retroactively from July.”
… and Christoph Wiederkehr
Meanwhile, deputy NEOS party leader Christoph Wiederkehr responded with a video. It’s not just about a warm lunch, but a healthy lunch for children, emphasizes the Vienna deputy mayor on Instagram: “The Chancellor obviously wants to give every child a burger, we NEOS want to raise the wings of every child. That’s exactly why we have Viennese in all of them All-day schools introduced free, warm, healthy food this school year. After economic competence, the ÖVP has now also lost family competence.”
There was also outrage among the union and Caritas
The union, which Nehammer describes in the video as the biggest brake on the “Red-White-Red” card, is outraged by the Chancellor’s speech.
“The social partnership has made a decisive contribution to overcoming crises, especially through measures such as short-time work. The Chancellor’s claim that the social partnership is an obstacle is incomprehensible to us. It is a model of success for our country and has played a key role in ours “The Chancellor’s statements are therefore absolutely incomprehensible to us,” said Vice President Korinna Schumann to the APA. The Chamber of Commerce did not want to comment on the statements made to the APA.
Clear words also came from Caritas President Michael Landau on Wednesday evening. “In Austria, no one has to starve or freeze to death in the winter. Because we hit the jackpot in the birthplace lottery. But anyone who says that no one starves or freezes in Austria has no idea about people’s reality,” he wrote on X.
2023-09-28 14:05:33
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