Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) promised the Austrians in his first budget speech on Wednesday that he would help them through the crisis. The minister also promoted the much-discussed tax reform and defended sanctions against Russia.
Hard times deserve long budget speeches, Brunner seemed to have thought during the preparation. It took the Minister of Finance 81 minutes, which is as much as Maria Fekter (ÖVP), who once (2011) even gave a lecture of more than one and a half hours. In comparison, Brunner’s predecessor Gernot Blümel only needed about half an hour for his two budget speeches.
“Making people’s lives affordable”
“The top priority of this budget is to do what it takes to make people’s lives affordable and ensure the survival of businesses and jobs,” said the department head in the National Council for a Full Government Bench, watching from the stands by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen.
From the outset, Brunner made it clear that the difficult times are likely to continue for a while: “The tasks we face are historic.” The crisis has apparently become a constant companion in our daily lives. For example, the high inflation “will of course accompany the Austrians for a longer time”.
Brunner wants to ‘invest out of the crisis’
The good news from the minister’s point of view: “We are not only fighting the crisis, we are also investing out of it.” The government states that “Austria is not only getting through these difficult times well, but that Austria is growing out of it”. .
After all, according to Brunner’s estimate, the corona pandemic has already been handled well, as this year’s economic growth proves: “These figures show that we may not have done everything right in the pandemic, but we did a lot of good.”
Minister defends state aid and sanctions
In general, the Minister of Finance defended state aid. Perhaps one or the other measure is too broad, but the crisis has now also reached medium-sized companies: “We would rather spread a few extinguishers too much than risk a wildfire.”
But not every crisis management proposal makes sense. “Not everything that’s popular is reasonable,” Brunner said of the opposition’s demands for a cap on electricity. Due to the liberalized European electricity market, Austrian tax money would also make electricity cheaper in Bavaria, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
The finance minister defended the sanctions against Russia as being no alternative: “Europe cannot and must not allow states to ignore international law and a single politician to decide whether a state has a right to exist or not.” sanctions is true “Emotionally very understandable”. But no one can guarantee that Russia will then fulfill its obligations.
Measures already taken by the finance minister, such as the eco-social tax reform, received a lot of publicity, as did the areas that mainly benefited from the budget. This ranged from the education sector to public transportation to the military and research.
Brunner asked the opposition parties to rethink common ground in view of the crisis. The minister regretted that there was no more solidarity at the beginning of the Corona period. At the same time, the prosperity and growth trends of recent years are suddenly and massively endangered. It is the task of all political planners at all levels to counteract this development.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
