Fighting poverty – Rendi-Wagner wants basic security for every child

As reported, Doskozil and Babler start a tour to present their program to SPÖ members. SPÖ leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner is doing “business as usual” and focusing on the most important issues. One is child poverty, which is currently hotly debated. In 2021, 368,000 children and young people were at risk of poverty and exclusion. That’s more than every fifth child. Even more children and young people up to the age of 19 live in households that cannot cope with unexpected payments.

“Health and social disadvantages that children incur cannot be made up for in the course of their lives,” says Rendi-Wagner. For example, poor children often cannot exercise certain leisure activities, they are often alone, they do not always have enough clothing or they even get too little to eat. In a survey across Austria in February and March 2023, more than every second parent stated that they were limiting the needs of other children due to rising heating costs. Three out of four still had to wear winter clothing at home to protect themselves against the cold.

action plan pending
About a year ago, the government should have submitted a national action plan against child poverty to the European Commission. But this one is long overdue. The SPÖ boss now wants to combat the problem with three measures. “It’s the responsibility of all of us to make sure children don’t have to start their lives with a disability like that,” she says. These measures include basic safety for children, a place of education and healthy, hot food every day.

Basic child protection. Every child is worth the same, Rendi-Wagner claims. Experts have proposed models for basic child security: each child receives a basic amount that they need to live – and not one euro less. Children living in low-income households receive an additional amount. An accurate spread should ensure that every child has enough to live on.

educational place. Every child has a place where they can get the support they need. This ranges from age-appropriate childcare for the little ones to graduation.

Every day healthy, hot meals for every child. The health consequences of childhood malnutrition can never be reversed. Every child in Austria should feel that they are getting a balanced meal every day. At the moment it is unbelievable that you have to demand this in Austria at all.

“Every child has the right to a good life. And this right does not depend on the parents’ wallets,” said an SPÖ broadcast. Poor health and a lack of educational opportunities would have social costs “that far exceed the savings, however cynical, for children”.