As usual, Peter Hacker (SPÖ, Deputy Mayor for Social Affairs and Health) does not mince his words in the krone.tv interview about the current topics of social assistance and the shortage of doctors. The starting point of the interview was the 4,600 euros per month in social assistance that a nine-member Syrian refugee family in Vienna receives and that causes waves.
Hacker sees it differently: “In Vienna, all children deserve the same opportunities. If you divide the total amount of social assistance by the number of family members, you get 500 euros per month per person. This amount is not hell, it probably does not cost a single sandwich in the Black Camel. (Please note: this is a traditional restaurant in the 1st district with luxury prices).
The municipal council for Social Affairs rejects the idea of spreading the minimum income and proportionally reducing benefits for each additional child: “This idea is unconstitutional. Family allowances are also not spread. Such suggestions only fuel the debate about envy, which is ridiculous.” He summarizes his own role in the social debate in a nutshell: “I am the bulwark of social security!”
Hacker: Social security “not just a poster”
Hacker continued: “Vienna is a city where social security is taken seriously and not just advertised. The ÖVP always comes up with suggestions on how to do better. The ÖVP has no say in how cities should be governed. People notice that. Of the ten largest cities in Austria, only one has an ÖVP mayor. And this is the smallest of them.”
It is also not correct that social assistance is linked to the continued work of the parents. Hacker: “Every child deserves the same chance, even if the parents do not work hard. Every child is worth the same.” Hacker admits that you can have a different opinion about this and that the AMS is necessary to enable the rapid integration of employable people into the labor market. “But the performance of the AMS is not so exciting that I have to seek advice.”
The shortage of nurses has ended
When it comes to Viennese health policy, he is pleased that he has succeeded in stopping the negative trend of the nursing shortage. Numerous nursing training places are now being created: “We are building intensively and are going to more than double the training places.”
Regarding the recent admission by Green Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) in the krone.tv studio that there is dual medicine in Austria, the Vienna City Councillor for Health said: “Additional funding would also have been needed for statutory health insurance. But that did not happen.” The former federal government of the ÖVP-FPÖ also got its fat from City Councillor Hacker: “The social security reform was a bull’s eye at the time. The Court of Auditors calculated that it cost one billion euros.”
Watch the full interview in the video above!
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.
