As has been known for a few days, the father, mother and their seven children receive 4,600 euros a month, including rent assistance. Far too much, according to FPÖ city leader Dominik Nepp, who announced a motion of no confidence against Mayor Michael Ludwig and city councilor Peter Hacker at a press conference on Friday. The ÖVP also used the debate to criticize.
“I have been in politics for years, but what has happened here has never happened before,” said Nepp. He has received numerous angry messages asking how it could be that a family “without doing anything” gets more than many for their full-time job. “This is not about envy, and it is not about Austrians versus migrants, it is about justice,” said Nepp. “I don’t know of any job where you get paid more just because you have more children.” Like federal party leader Herbert Kickl, Nepp wants social assistance to only be paid to Austrian citizens. If he were elected mayor after the Vienna election in 2025, he would “start an initiative for this in the first 24 hours after I am sworn in.”
Social benefits “promote internal migration”
The Vienna SPÖ is to blame for this imbalance. By increasing social benefits, it is encouraging “internal migration” to the capital and supporting people “who do not want to work because they get more for doing nothing.” Nepp announced that he would file a request for a special session of the state parliament and a complaint against SPÖ councillor Hacker for abuse of office. “In Vienna, payments are being made unconstitutionally, and the Vienna social welfare law must be amended.” Hacker also keeps talking about isolated cases that are not individual cases, said Nepp. The SPÖ social welfare councillor told ORF that there are around 120 similar families in Vienna, 110 of whom work. “That’s about 500 euros per person. What is the point of this microcensus debate?”
Nepp also wants to introduce a motion of no confidence against Ludwig and Hacker. To do this, the FPÖ would need the votes of the ÖVP. “We reserve the right to make decisions for the special state parliament session until the last minute,” said the office of ÖVP leader Karl Mahrer. He accuses the FPÖ of “issue theft,” as the ÖVP had already drawn attention to a similar case two years ago.
Raab advocates waiting period of 5 years
The case of the Viennese family did not only outrage the Viennese blacks, who are making the same demands as the Freedom Party: a reduction in “internal migration” and lower social welfare, as in other federal states. Upper Austria’s Social Affairs Minister and designated Chamber of Commerce Secretary General Wolfgang Hattmansdorfer calculated that a family of the same size in Upper Austria would only receive around 2,300 euros.
The same tone is also being voiced by the federal party: Integration Minister Susanne Raab is in favor of a waiting period of five years before one is entitled to social assistance. She also considers Vienna’s “support policy” to be “excessive.” “The level of social assistance provided by Vienna hinders successful integration,” says a statement sent to the APA.
The system introduced in 2018 under the turquoise-blue coalition provides for a maximum limit. This is around 1,100 euros per person, and thus well below the poverty threshold of 1,600 euros. However, this system has also led to “a competition for reductions among the federal states,” criticizes Green MP Markus Koza in the Ö1 midday journal and calls for a “general overhaul.” Pink Nikolaus Scherak can very well imagine a cut, because “the minimum income should be an incentive to go to work.”
“There can be no talk of luxury”
“There is no question of luxury,” commented Volkshilfe on the case on Thursday on X (formerly Twitter). According to Statistics Austria, the poverty threshold for seven children, four of whom are under 14, is 6,603 euros. According to debt counseling, a couple with four children needs 5,858 euros a month for a modest lifestyle. With 4,600 euros in minimum income, a family with nine children is well below that. “It is not the Viennese minimum income that is the scandal, but the shaming of the poor,” added Tanja Wehsely, managing director of Volkshilfe Wien, in a press release on Friday.
The high transfer payments for families with many children would fuel the “envy debate,” argued AMS boss Johannes Kopf to the “Krone.” He is in favor of replacing the payments with benefits in kind, such as the direct transfer of rent to the landlord or shopping vouchers. A uniform social system and a residency requirement are needed, said Kopf. In the federal states, asylum seekers are thrown out of their accommodation on the day they are granted asylum and then receive 430 euros, which means they cannot afford accommodation. “Then they drive to Vienna, find a bed for 300 euros and 1,100 euros in minimum income.” As “Heute” reported, the case became public after the Syrians wanted to rent a new apartment on Landstrasse and had to provide proof of income.
