The storms of the past few days will also be a topic at the National Council meeting on Wednesday. The SPÖ and FPÖ are submitting motions. The former want a right to exemption for volunteers and legal clarification that those affected do not have to go to work the next day. The Blues are demanding a legal right to financial compensation in the form of an immediate payment. The SPÖ and NEOS are demanding that Finance Minister Brunner take stock of his finances.
“We need a legal regulation immediately that takes those affected out of the role of supplicants,” FPÖ party leader Herbert Kickl announced a corresponding motion in a press release. “In the past, victims of natural disasters often had to wait years for compensation or support payments, were unable to carry out urgently needed repair work or had to take out loans, if they were able to get a loan at all,” said Kickl, who hopes for the approval of the other parties “in the spirit of the great strength of the community.”
The SPÖ also wants to concentrate on “making the necessary decisions” in order to quickly help people affected by the floods, explained club leader Philip Kucher at a press conference on Tuesday: “It should not be an election campaign meeting.” For this reason, the SPÖ will not submit an “urgent request”. However, this does not stop the Social Democrats from sharply criticizing the government for its previous policies. The immense budgetary burdens are due to the various crises on the one hand, but are also the result of the coalition’s actions or inaction, said Kucher.
Finance spokesman Jan Krainer is once again annoyed that the finance minister has not yet complied with his request for a financial audit. For Kucher, it would be “a question of respect and honesty to tell the population in advance what they are facing.” The ÖVP and the Greens do not want the Austrians to know how bad the budget situation is: “The government is deceiving voters.” The SPÖ now hopes that Brunner will at least present the figures in tomorrow’s session, which includes both a “current affairs hour” on finances and a debate on the financial statements.
The NEOS are doing the same. They are directing the “Current Hour” to Brunner. They want to know from him “how he envisages balancing the budget,” said deputy club chairman Nikolaus Scherak at a press conference on Tuesday. He also stressed, however, that in view of the floods, “it is not time to move on to the agenda,” but that the current hour had already been set earlier and there was no chance of changing it. The Pinks are calling on the future EU Commissioner to present “an honest financial review before the election and before he leaves for Brussels.”
The NEOS are notoriously dissatisfied with the federal government’s financial policy. “The deficit in the first half of 2024 is twice as high as in the previous year, but even compared to the Corona year of 2021, the deficit is larger this year.” He is worried about forecasts by the Fiscal Council and the Wifo that Austria will significantly exceed the Maastricht limit of three percent. “The fact that the Chancellor thinks ‘we can grow out of the deficit’ is voodoo economics.”
According to calculations by the NEOS, savings of 4.5 billion euros could be made in the pension system, three billion in administration and two and a half billion in federalism. “We will turn every cent over not just twice, but three times if necessary,” Scherak said, once again eyeing the Ministry of Finance for his party.
