When the debate was held for the first time in the Great Redoutensaal of the Hofburg in 2017, the SPÖ was still the party with the most votes and provided Christian Kern as Chancellor. The then President of the National Council, Doris Bures (SPÖ), spoke at the beginning of the first session in the Hofburg of a “watershed in the history of our republic”. For the first time since the founding of the republic in 1918, the National Council would meet outside the parliament building on the Ring.
More than five years and two National Council elections later, the end is heralded. At lunchtime, MPs meet to debate more than 30 bills over the next three days. At the beginning, however, there is a current hour. At the request of the FPÖ, asylum and sanctions once morest Russia are being debated. On the other plenary days, Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler and Integration Minister Susanne Raab (both ÖVP) will answer questions from the mandataries.
From care to more money for basic military service
The program for the coming days is extremely diverse. On the agenda are, for example, the salaries of civil servants and the reform of the appointment of the head of the Supreme Court (OGH). The energy crisis contribution for fossil fuels promises excitement. This is intended to tax the crisis-related profits of oil and gas companies in the second half of 2022 and 2023. If the current profit is more than 20 percent above this average, 40 percent of it should be skimmed off.
The long-promised and widely announced care reform is also to be partially decided. Access to the sixth week of vacation will be extended: All employees in the field of health and nursing should be entitled to it from the age of 43, whereby the entitlement can be financially compensated in a transitional phase until 2026. The care bonus for caring relatives, which will take effect from mid-2023 under certain conditions, was also decided.
There is also money: the basic salary for conscripts will be increased from 124.22 to 261.97 euros from 2023. In the event of a bet, it increases to 572.11 euros. The compensation for civil servants will be increased from almost 363 to 500 euros. As before, the cost of meals will be added to them. The FPÖ is also introducing a bill that would give the President of the National Council the option to vote out of office. So far this is not possible.
SPÖ wants to insist on gas price caps
Of course, National Council meetings also deal with demands – these are mainly made by the opposition. SPÖ and FPÖ had already presented their topics for the plenary week on Monday – NEOS will follow on Tuesday. The SPÖ wants to insist on the introduction of a gas price cap. The government’s current measures to combat energy costs would only fuel inflation, stressed the deputy SPÖ club boss Jörg Leichtfried. “Instead of dampening inflation, it’s being artificially boosted.”
The one-off payments planned by the government would ultimately fizzle out, said Leichtfried. The climate bonus or the 150-euro one-off payment have “long since been used up”. He considers the recently announced new energy cost subsidy for companies to be “more of the same from what actually doesn’t make sense”. These subsidies are inflationary and would only help for a short time, but not in the long term.
SPÖ insists on gas price cap
The SPÖ announced on Monday that it would continue to insist on a gas price cap. The Social Democrats do not consider the government’s current measures to be effective.
The “only functioning system” is the gas price brake, which the SPÖ recently campaigned for with the ÖVP state governors. These should persuade the members of “their” federal state to vote for an SPÖ motion in the National Council. “I don’t like to put my hopes in ÖVP governors, and I don’t often do so,” said Leichtfried. But with the 49 members of the ÖVP from these countries, a majority for a price cap would be possible.
FPÖ focus on asylum and inflation
FPÖ club boss Herbert Kickl also wants to address the government’s measures once morest high inflation. On Monday he described it as an “expression of helplessness”. While millions of people were worried regarding how they should continue to afford life, “those who screwed up are approving a salary increase,” said Kickl, referring to the statutory increase in politicians’ salaries, which will come into force on January 1st. unless the National Council decides otherwise. “We want a zero-wage round.”
Kickl is likely to cause heated arguments when it comes to asylum. Before the National Council session, he criticized a “pathetic performance” by the federal government in connection with the “current migration of peoples”. The Freedom Party announced a demonstration for Friday once morest the planned federal asylum center in Kindberg in Upper Styria. The FPÖ is in solidarity with the local population, explained Kickl. One has “complete understanding” for the rejection of the population once morest the asylum quarters.
FPÖ wants to address asylum
The asylum issue will take up a lot of space at the National Council meeting on Tuesday. This was announced by FPÖ club boss Herbert Kickl on Monday.
This rejection is nothing indecent or immoral, but a “legitimate self-defense measure” that local people are entitled to. According to Kickl, if the FPÖ wins the next election and appoints the Federal Chancellor, the home will be closed once more: “That’s a promise I’m making to the people of Kindberg.”
