Politics
The ÖVP Youth Secretary of State Claudia Plakolm was in Vorarlberg on her tour of the federal states on Thursday. Volunteering is very important to her, because many organizations such as the fire brigade or water rescue would be stuck without volunteers.
Claudia Plakolm was once the youngest member of the National Council in the history of Austria. It is considered the ÖVP’s great hope for the future and has been part of the federal government since December. As Secretary of State for Youth, volunteering is particularly important to her. “We are very fortunate in Austria that almost every second young person volunteers in clubs in their free time,” says Plakolm happily. In Vorarlberg there are even more. “But we have to keep working to ensure that we can inspire young people in particular to join a club once more,” Plakolm continued.
youth and volunteering
More than half of all Vorarlberg residents are active on a voluntary basis. It is important for the clubs that they have enough youngsters. Youth State Secretary Claudia Plakolm (ÖVP) is convinced that young people want to do voluntary work.
Clubs should actively approach young people
From the point of view of the 27-year-old from Linz, this can succeed if the clubs actively approach the young people and offer them taster opportunities. At the Vorarlberger Wasserrettung, young people are not a problem. There are currently 1,350 honorary members. A major challenge, however, is finding new officials. “It is associated with great responsibility, and the activities are becoming more and more complex. We’ve found it increasingly difficult to get officials in recent years,” says Philipp Stadler, President of the Vorarlberg Water Rescue Service.
“Not all pensions should be increased by 10 percent”
In addition to volunteering, intergenerational justice is also an important issue for Plakolm. Despite the current inflation, she is once morest pensions being raised sharply. From their point of view, that would be unfair to the young people. “I have not the slightest understanding of the demand by the SPÖ pensioners’ association that all pensions across the ridge be increased by ten percent, because that would be inaccurate and unfair to the younger generation,” says Plakolm. In the case of low pensions, however, one must check whether the statutory pension adjustment of 5.8 percent is sufficient.
