While everyone agrees that something needs to be done to halt the price increases, the approaches remain different. SPÖ club president Pamela Rendi-Wagner made demands such as a gas price cap or a rent freeze, while Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) warned against overstretching the budget in the interests of future generations.
Rendi-Wagner gave the government the worst possible report when it came to fighting inflation and never failed to show with examples how much better social-democratic cabinets, such as in Spain and Germany, did.
It’s about rent, groceries, cleaning supplies and much more: “It’s about the content and deep into the middle class.”
In its “urgent application”, the SPÖ is considering, in addition to the gas price cap and the suspension of rent increases, also the suspension of the CO2 tax and the temporary abolition of VAT on basic foodstuffs.
Don’t trust “doomsayers”.
Nehammer thanked the red club president for her factual speech, but did not accept Rendi-Wagner’s suggestions. The chancellor emphasized what the government had already achieved and warned against trusting the “prophets of doom”. After all, there were also predictions that the Austrians would have to freeze in winter and that the industry would no longer be able to produce. Dependence on Russian gas has been reduced from 80 to 20 percent.
Anyone who needed it was helped, and quickly. The ÖVP boss recalled the inflation adjustment for those living in particularly precarious circumstances, the pension increase, the double child benefit and the increase in the commuter allowance. In addition, the protection shield against evictions was further expanded. The federal states would have received 500 million to pay extra heating costs subsidies.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
