Austrian Elections & Politics 4.0

[Tender Branson]

Here's an overview of what ÖVP/FPÖ have agreed on (using Google Translate):

[quote]The turquoise-blue plan for Austria

"Time for something new", placated Sebastian Kurz in the election campaign. Heinz-Christian Strache wanted to do everything differently. Can the projects of the ÖVP and the FPÖ live up to this claim? Make yourself a picture.

1. Police are armed against terror and cybercrime

More police want to see the next government on the street. Every year, 2,500 to 2,800 police officers are to be trained. This not only aims to counteract the wave of retirements in the executive branch, but generally recruits more police officers. The job should be more attractive, also in terms of salary and education. The spreading cybercrimes are to be contained with its own Cybercrime Center. To combat terrorism, authorities should have easier access to messenger services such as WhatsApp. The exact legal and technical details of this plan are still unclear.

2. The illegal migration should be stopped

In the area of ​​asylum, there will be tightening under the coming government. The illegal migration should be stopped, the number of asylum seekers wants to lower so much. The border controls will be extended. For asylum seekers in primary care, there should only be more benefits in kind and no individual housing. The ÖVP and FPÖ also want to force deportations. In the case of legally convicted persons, deportation should be faster. Most recently, German Chancellor-General Sebastian Kurz, who has been in power, supported EU Council President Donald Tusk, who wants to say goodbye to the pan-European refugee quota. Which amounts to a turnaround in Austrian asylum policy.

3. The direct democracy is being expanded

The government parties agree that the direct democratic elements are being expanded. Successful referendums should lead from a certain number of supporters (which was controversial to last) necessarily to a referendum, the result of which would be binding for the policy. A plebiscite on the withdrawal of Austria from the EU is expressly not allowed. The Constitutional Court should also be given the role of a referee and decide which questions may or may not be submitted to a referendum. Their demand for a referendum on the Free Trade Agreement CETA has apparently been abandoned by the FPÖ.

4. The tax burden should drop significantly

Not yet known in the details are the plans for a tax cut. According to FPÖ boss Heinz-Christian Strache, it should be in a first step, a relief of small and medium income to 1900 euros from the year 2019. Later, according to Strache, there will be a general tax cut for everyone in stages. The long-term goal is to lower the tax and tax rate from the current 43 percent to 40 percent. Whether this succeeds until the end of the legislature is still open.

5. Family bonus of 1500 Euro per child

Families with children should be relieved of tax. A family bonus of 1,500 euros per child per year is planned. Until the child is 18 years old, the tax burden should decrease to 1500 Euro per year. Details are yet to be determined. The starting date of the family tax reform should be the beginning of 2019.

6. Less health insurance plans are planned

The number of health insurance companies should be reduced. There are currently 21 health insurance companies in Austria, plus a large number of health insurance companies from countries and municipalities. The government wants to significantly reduce the number of funds. Especially the health insurance funds are in their sights. The nine funds, where the workers and employees are insured, should be merged into one. This would already be possible with a simple majority in the National Council. For further mergers, such as the insurance company of the commercial economy and the social security of farmers, a constitutional amendment would be necessary.

7. 500 Euro tuition fees with "tax bonus"

An ÖVP-FPÖ government does not start with the introduction of tuition fees for the first time. That was already in the year 2000. From the winter semester 2001 they were raised. In September 2008, the tuition fees were abolished as Wahlzuckerl immediately before the election - with the votes of SPÖ, Greens and those of the FPÖ. This time, the coalition negotiators have apparently agreed to pay university fees from the third semester, so after the study entrance and orientation phase. It is planned to have a tax credit after graduation with the intention to keep the young academics in the country by doing so. A planned tuition fee of 500 euros per semester will be collected. Currently, long-term students have to pay 363.36 euros per semester. For some students from non-EU countries, the amount doubles.

8. The minimum income should be new

The minimum income is being redesigned. ÖVP and FPÖ want rules that apply throughout Austria. This is currently not the case. The ÖVP-dominated countries want stricter regulations than the red-green ruled Vienna. The models are the regulations in Lower Austria and Upper Austria. There, the full minimum income (844 euros for a single person) receives only those who had a main residence in Austria for five years in the past six years. For the others, there is a minimum light (572 euros). In addition, the minimum income is capped at 1500 euros. In order to create a uniform minimum income, the federal government must issue a fundamental law, on whose provisions the countries then have to comply.

9. The citizenship law is tightened

It concerns a peculiarity in the Austrian citizenship law, specifically the legal right to naturalization, which two groups of foreigners already have after six years: recognized refugees and persons who were born in Austria. Now the path to Austrian citizenship should become more difficult for them too. At the earliest after ten years, there should be the right to naturalization. The fact is: In almost no other EU country does this early naturalization claim exist.

10. More money for the army

The army gets - at least if it goes to the will of the FPÖ - significantly more money. By 2020, the army budget should rise to 3.1 billion euros. That would be almost a billion more than at present, and still provided for around 600 million euros more than in the previous budget path. For years it has been demanded that the budget of the army be raised to an internationally comparable level of one to two percent of gross domestic product (GDP). One percent would currently be 3.5 billion euros. The coalition parties are not yet clear on how to proceed with the Eurofighters. This question should be transferred to a working group.

(continues below)

[Tender Branson]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.sn.at/politik/innenpolitik/der-tuerkis-blaue-plan-fuer-oesterreich-21773050

[Tender Branson]

The new cabinet members from the ÖVP:

[Tender Branson]

The new ÖVP-FPÖ coalition gets officially presented to the public and media right now.

Live stream (refresh in 5 minutes):

http://tvthek.orf.at/live/Pressekonferenz-Praesentation-des-Regierungsprogramms/13943156

[Tender Branson]

The new coalition has just been presented by Kurz & Strache and both said they are looking forward to the next 5 years.



---

Here are portraits of all new cabinet members (just use Google Translate):

https://www.sn.at/politik/innenpolitik/sebastian-kurz-31-und-schon-kanzler-21783922

https://www.sn.at/politik/innenpolitik/heinz-christian-strache-vom-waldspieler-zum-vizekanzler-21784057

https://www.sn.at/politik/innenpolitik/das-sind-die-neuen-ministerinnen-und-minister-21801613

And here:

http://derstandard.at/2000069820863/Die-Koepfe-der-neuen-Regierung-Portraets-der-moeglichen-Minister

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Here is the full coalition agreement, called "Together. For our Austria.":

http://images.derstandard.at/2017/12/16/Regierungsprogramm.pdf

Here is an analysis of the major points in it (use Google Translate):

http://derstandard.at/2000070495198/regierungsprogramm-oevp-fpoe-kurz-strache-ueberblick-analyse

[Tender Branson]

So, tomorrow President Van der Bellen will talk with every new cabinet member for a while - which should take most of the day (considering there are 16 of them).

The swearing-in ceremony will be held on Monday @ 11am. In the afternoon, Chancellor Kurz will fly to Brussels to meet with Juncker & Co. to convince them that his new government won't be "soooo bad" after all as they expected ahead of the election.

On Tuesday, the first full cabinet meeting will take place. The new cabinet press speaker, Peter Launsky, will inform the media afterwards.

On Wednesday, the new government will appear in parliament for the first time and deliver their introduction remarks.

[rob in cal]

  I was reading the direct democracy plank of the agreement and if I understood it correctly it proposes that in 2022 the parliament will pass an amendment allowing for a referendum on an initiative if it gets 900k signatures. If parliament doesn't pass it with the required 2/3 majority the government would put it to a referendum (so a referendum on whether to have more referenda).  Assuming the proposal passes it also means that the parliament could put a counter proposal on the ballot as well.  Also, a majority must vote for it, and one third of eligible voters is the required support threshold as well.  Is that accurate Tender?
   

[Tender Branson]

 I was reading the direct democracy plank of the agreement and if I understood it correctly it proposes that in 2022 the parliament will pass an amendment allowing for a referendum on an initiative if it gets 900k signatures. If parliament doesn't pass it with the required 2/3 majority the government would put it to a referendum (so a referendum on whether to have more referenda).  Assuming the proposal passes it also means that the parliament could put a counter proposal on the ballot as well.  Also, a majority must vote for it, and one third of eligible voters is the required support threshold as well.  Is that accurate Tender?

That is correct, yes.

It will be interesting to see if they get the support of NEOS over the next 5 years to change the constitution with a 2/3 majority (and it's going to be very hard for them !).

Funnily, the ÖVP wanted a 10% threshold (=640K voters) for referendums and the FPÖ 4%, but they somehow settled on a compromise with 14% of eligible voters ...

[Tender Branson]

I like the fact that ÖVP-FPÖ wants to raise the minimum pension for those who have worked 40 years to 1.200€ a month, 14x a year.

Adjusted for the fact that Germans have no minimum pension at all and it's only paid 12x per year, the new pension model in Austria would see a minimum pension almost twice the size of Germany's initial/lowest pensions ...

A good signal to combat old-age poverty (a really big emerging problem in Germany right now).

[rob in cal]

  Also, Tender do you think Kickl is the right man for the FPO to have put in as interior minister, in terms of enforcing border laws, deportations, and other things related to less illegal immigration?

[Tender Branson]

rob: Only time will tell ... (Kickl has been radical when it comes to FPÖ campaign slogans a few years ago, but has also moderated in terms of the newer slogans for the 2016 and 2017 elections).

[Tender Branson]

A very encouraging economic report from the National Bank:

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/austrian-economic-growth-hits-10year-high-central-bank-says-20171215-00104

Debt as a % of GDP will go down to 65% at the end of ÖVP/FPÖ's term and budget surpluses are expected from 2019 onwards.

[Lotuslander]

But now he's going to swear them in, even Kickl and Kunasek (the 2 most extreme cabinet members).

With Kickl, it's almost as if Goebbels is becoming Interior Minister (Kickl is the rhetorically brilliant "brain" behind Strache, inventing all the FPÖ's campaign slogans) and with Kunasek (a soldier) someone from the SS becoming Defense Minister ...

For real? I just had this weird vibe of Die Fahne Hoch playing in the background.

[Starpaul20]

Hubert Fuchs (FPÖ, State Secretary in the Finance Ministry)

I can't help but to laugh at this guy's last name.
(I know it's pronounced differently in German)

[Tender Branson]

ÖVP-FPÖ are cracking down much harder against illegal (economic) migrants:

* Similar to Denmark, the cash that these immigrants/asylum seekers have with them when entering the country will be confiscated and used to pay for their housing.

* Also, their cell phones will be confiscated to see which migration routes they took, if they have radical Islamist content on their phones such as beheadings, torture etc.

* If migrants entering the country turn out to have destroyed their passports to hide or fake their identity (many Arab/African men who came in the past years claimed to be 11 years, but had full-grown beards ... ), their asylum claim will be automatically rejected and the people deported.

[Diouf]

ÖVP-FPÖ are cracking down much harder against illegal (economic) migrants:

* Similar to Denmark, the cash that these immigrants/asylum seekers have with them when entering the country will be confiscated and used to pay for their housing.

* Also, their cell phones will be confiscated to see which migration routes they took, if they have radical Islamist content on their phones such as beheadings, torture etc.

* If migrants entering the country turn out to have destroyed their passports to hide or fake their identity (many Arab/African men who came in the past years claimed to be 11 years, but had full-grown beards ... ), their asylum claim will be automatically rejected and the people deported.

So no significant change of immigration policy in Austria either. Never really even looked like the FPÖ pushed for something radical. It does not make a whole lot of sense to talk a lot about illegal migration, when everybody in the World still has the right to go to Austria and apply for asylum. Even if the asylum application is rejected, these people are very hard to deport.

The Danish proposal about valuables is just another symbolic effort with very little effect in reality. In the year since it was approved, it has been used 4 times to confiscate a total amount of 117.000 DKK (16.000 euro). I'm guessing that amount does not pay housing for very many people in many months, neither in Denmark nor Austria. The proposal might have a very marginal role in the considered "attractiveness" of Austria as a place to apply for asylum in, but since EU-countries does not want to make significantly tighter immigration policies, they love these symbolic tough policies so soon most countries will copy each other there. Also, the most decisive thing is probably still where there are many immigrants already, since people go where their family and friends have already gone, so there's a path dependency which means Austria, having taken a lot of migrants, will probably continue to get a quite high share of them.

[DavidB.]

Funnily, the ÖVP wanted a 10% threshold (=640K voters) for referendums and the FPÖ 4%, but they somehow settled on a compromise with 14% of eligible voters ...

That's truly a lot. Almost impossible to reach, especially if signing over the internet is not possible.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The demands for increased military spending makes me wonder: are any politicians pushing for an abandoning of neutrality?

[Omega21]

The demands for increased military spending makes me wonder: are any politicians pushing for an abandoning of neutrality?

Don't think so, this would be really unpopular.

[Tender Branson]

The demands for increased military spending makes me wonder: are any politicians pushing for an abandoning of neutrality?

More money for our military (which is chronically underfunded btw) has nothing to do with giving up neutrality ...

Sweden for example also pumps more money into their military, without giving up their neutrality and joining NATO (but Sweden does it because of the Russian threat nearby, whereas ÖVP/FPÖ do it because our army barracks are falling apart. Remember that Austria only spends 0.6% of GDP on the military right now, virtually the lowest amount on the planet and some equipment is 40-50 years old already - which is bad for natural disaster aid. Even with the proposed rise in military spending, it's going to be just 0.9% of GDP).

Obviously, there are some politicians in ÖVP/FPÖ, who would favour a NATO membership - but they are in the minority. And neutrality is still extremely popular here. Also, the ÖVP/FPÖ coalition contract out yesterday references neutrality several times and how they want to uphold it.

[Tender Branson]

ÖVP-FPÖ are cracking down much harder against illegal (economic) migrants:

* Similar to Denmark, the cash that these immigrants/asylum seekers have with them when entering the country will be confiscated and used to pay for their housing.

* Also, their cell phones will be confiscated to see which migration routes they took, if they have radical Islamist content on their phones such as beheadings, torture etc.

* If migrants entering the country turn out to have destroyed their passports to hide or fake their identity (many Arab/African men who came in the past years claimed to be 11 years, but had full-grown beards ... ), their asylum claim will be automatically rejected and the people deported.

So no significant change of immigration policy in Austria either. Never really even looked like the FPÖ pushed for something radical. It does not make a whole lot of sense to talk a lot about illegal migration, when everybody in the World still has the right to go to Austria and apply for asylum. Even if the asylum application is rejected, these people are very hard to deport.

The Danish proposal about valuables is just another symbolic effort with very little effect in reality. In the year since it was approved, it has been used 4 times to confiscate a total amount of 117.000 DKK (16.000 euro). I'm guessing that amount does not pay housing for very many people in many months, neither in Denmark nor Austria. The proposal might have a very marginal role in the considered "attractiveness" of Austria as a place to apply for asylum in, but since EU-countries does not want to make significantly tighter immigration policies, they love these symbolic tough policies so soon most countries will copy each other there. Also, the most decisive thing is probably still where there are many immigrants already, since people go where their family and friends have already gone, so there's a path dependency which means Austria, having taken a lot of migrants, will probably continue to get a quite high share of them.

True, but the symbolism (coupled with better enforcement/cuts in welfare money and more deportations) will work wonders and will very likely keep many potential economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa away. If people who are already here tell their relatives etc. abroad that policies are going to be significantly tougher in the next years, many people on the move there will likely opt for other countries who have a weaker policy on economic migrants instead.

[Tender Branson]

President VdB has met with the new cabinet members today for individual, personal talks.

Afterwards he said that "nothing is in the way of swearing in the new cabinet tomorrow at 11am".

http://derstandard.at/2000070552300/Van-der-Bellen-nahm-neue-Minister-in-Augenschein

... except maybe the 10.000 or so leftist protesters outside the Hofburg (but 2.000 police will secure the area).

[oddfellowslocal151]

ÖVP-FPÖ are cracking down much harder against illegal (economic) migrants:

* Similar to Denmark, the cash that these immigrants/asylum seekers have with them when entering the country will be confiscated and used to pay for their housing.

* Also, their cell phones will be confiscated to see which migration routes they took, if they have radical Islamist content on their phones such as beheadings, torture etc.

* If migrants entering the country turn out to have destroyed their passports to hide or fake their identity (many Arab/African men who came in the past years claimed to be 11 years, but had full-grown beards ... ), their asylum claim will be automatically rejected and the people deported.

So no significant change of immigration policy in Austria either. Never really even looked like the FPÖ pushed for something radical. It does not make a whole lot of sense to talk a lot about illegal migration, when everybody in the World still has the right to go to Austria and apply for asylum. Even if the asylum application is rejected, these people are very hard to deport.

The Danish proposal about valuables is just another symbolic effort with very little effect in reality. In the year since it was approved, it has been used 4 times to confiscate a total amount of 117.000 DKK (16.000 euro). I'm guessing that amount does not pay housing for very many people in many months, neither in Denmark nor Austria. The proposal might have a very marginal role in the considered "attractiveness" of Austria as a place to apply for asylum in, but since EU-countries does not want to make significantly tighter immigration policies, they love these symbolic tough policies so soon most countries will copy each other there. Also, the most decisive thing is probably still where there are many immigrants already, since people go where their family and friends have already gone, so there's a path dependency which means Austria, having taken a lot of migrants, will probably continue to get a quite high share of them.

True, but the symbolism (coupled with better enforcement/cuts in welfare money and more deportations) will work wonders and will very likely keep many potential economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa away. If people who are already here tell their relatives etc. abroad that policies are going to be significantly tougher in the next years, many people on the move there will likely opt for other countries who have a weaker policy on economic migrants instead.

Sad to see the criminalization of migration in another country.

[Tender Branson]

ÖVP-FPÖ are cracking down much harder against illegal (economic) migrants:

* Similar to Denmark, the cash that these immigrants/asylum seekers have with them when entering the country will be confiscated and used to pay for their housing.

* Also, their cell phones will be confiscated to see which migration routes they took, if they have radical Islamist content on their phones such as beheadings, torture etc.

* If migrants entering the country turn out to have destroyed their passports to hide or fake their identity (many Arab/African men who came in the past years claimed to be 11 years, but had full-grown beards ... ), their asylum claim will be automatically rejected and the people deported.

So no significant change of immigration policy in Austria either. Never really even looked like the FPÖ pushed for something radical. It does not make a whole lot of sense to talk a lot about illegal migration, when everybody in the World still has the right to go to Austria and apply for asylum. Even if the asylum application is rejected, these people are very hard to deport.

The Danish proposal about valuables is just another symbolic effort with very little effect in reality. In the year since it was approved, it has been used 4 times to confiscate a total amount of 117.000 DKK (16.000 euro). I'm guessing that amount does not pay housing for very many people in many months, neither in Denmark nor Austria. The proposal might have a very marginal role in the considered "attractiveness" of Austria as a place to apply for asylum in, but since EU-countries does not want to make significantly tighter immigration policies, they love these symbolic tough policies so soon most countries will copy each other there. Also, the most decisive thing is probably still where there are many immigrants already, since people go where their family and friends have already gone, so there's a path dependency which means Austria, having taken a lot of migrants, will probably continue to get a quite high share of them.

True, but the symbolism (coupled with better enforcement/cuts in welfare money and more deportations) will work wonders and will very likely keep many potential economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa away. If people who are already here tell their relatives etc. abroad that policies are going to be significantly tougher in the next years, many people on the move there will likely opt for other countries who have a weaker policy on economic migrants instead.

Sad to see the criminalization of migration in another country.

"criminalization of migration"

LOL.

It's an act of self-defense against a political caste that has acted extremely naive over the recent years when it comes to culture-hostile mass immigration.

A small level of immigration is nothing bad, but it needs to be controlled and it needs to come from culture-similar areas and not backwards regions such as AfPak, Somalia and elsewhere.

If you allow such a policy, you will only import anti-semitism, religious extremism, misogyny and generally failed, illiterate people from the poorest regions that you simply cannot integrate into our labour market and society without also burdening the hard-working local population.

[oddfellowslocal151]

ÖVP-FPÖ are cracking down much harder against illegal (economic) migrants:

* Similar to Denmark, the cash that these immigrants/asylum seekers have with them when entering the country will be confiscated and used to pay for their housing.

* Also, their cell phones will be confiscated to see which migration routes they took, if they have radical Islamist content on their phones such as beheadings, torture etc.

* If migrants entering the country turn out to have destroyed their passports to hide or fake their identity (many Arab/African men who came in the past years claimed to be 11 years, but had full-grown beards ... ), their asylum claim will be automatically rejected and the people deported.

So no significant change of immigration policy in Austria either. Never really even looked like the FPÖ pushed for something radical. It does not make a whole lot of sense to talk a lot about illegal migration, when everybody in the World still has the right to go to Austria and apply for asylum. Even if the asylum application is rejected, these people are very hard to deport.

The Danish proposal about valuables is just another symbolic effort with very little effect in reality. In the year since it was approved, it has been used 4 times to confiscate a total amount of 117.000 DKK (16.000 euro). I'm guessing that amount does not pay housing for very many people in many months, neither in Denmark nor Austria. The proposal might have a very marginal role in the considered "attractiveness" of Austria as a place to apply for asylum in, but since EU-countries does not want to make significantly tighter immigration policies, they love these symbolic tough policies so soon most countries will copy each other there. Also, the most decisive thing is probably still where there are many immigrants already, since people go where their family and friends have already gone, so there's a path dependency which means Austria, having taken a lot of migrants, will probably continue to get a quite high share of them.

True, but the symbolism (coupled with better enforcement/cuts in welfare money and more deportations) will work wonders and will very likely keep many potential economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa away. If people who are already here tell their relatives etc. abroad that policies are going to be significantly tougher in the next years, many people on the move there will likely opt for other countries who have a weaker policy on economic migrants instead.

Sad to see the criminalization of migration in another country.

"criminalization of migration"

LOL.

It's an act of self-defense against a political caste that has acted extremely naive over the recent years when it comes to culture-hostile mass immigration.

A small level of immigration is nothing bad, but it needs to be controlled and it needs to come from culture-similar areas and not backwards regions such as AfPak, Somalia and elsewhere.

If you allow such a policy, you will only import anti-semitism, religious extremism, misogyny and generally failed, illiterate people from the poorest regions that you simply cannot integrate into our labour market and society without also burdening the hard-working local population.

ok, well that is still criminalizing migration, even if you have a reason for it or if you support it. You can say that the Austrian government is criminalizing migration is "an act of self-defense" but I don't see how you can say that they are not criminalizing migration. I do not support it, so I am sad.