Austrian Elections & Politics - Version 1.0

[Tender Branson]

It should be noted that EU-citizens are able to vote in the Vienna district elections that are held together with the state elections. State and federal elections though are only for Austrian citizens.

The solution for people from outside the EU who want to vote in Vienna is pretty simple: Apply for Austrian citizenship after 6 years (fast-track-system) or 10 years (normal system). Immigrants shouldn't only have rights (like some naive left-wingers suggest), but also certain duties ...

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

What's the threshold for Vienna?

[Tender Branson]

What's the threshold for Vienna?

5% (like in Salzburg, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Carinthia, while there's a 4% threshold in the states of Burgenland, Upper Austria and Lower Austria. In Styria there's no threshold, you need to get a "basic mandate" in one of the electoral districts).

[Tender Branson]

New 2016 Presidential poll by Gallup (of course, any of these 4 people running is just pure speculation at this point):



http://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Zweikampf-um-Hofburg/196947065

[Grand Wizard Lizard of the Klan]

Why the hell Greens candidate has so huge support?

[DavidB.]

Maybe I'm totally wrong, but this really strikes me when reading about Austrian politics... All Austrian politicians seem to be boring white men over 50 (Strache and the 20-something Foreign Minister being the obvious exceptions). Is that also the perception of many Austrians, and does it influence the way people look at the political arena in general?

[Tender Branson]

Why the hell Greens candidate has so huge support?

Because it's Alexander van der Bellen - a very popular former Green Party leader - who not only attracts some 99% of Green Party voters, but also like 95% of NEOS voters and good chuncks of ÖVP and SPÖ voters.

Slightly excentric, a smoker and a fan of comics, he's a former university professor and very smart and usually wallops his opponents in debates and also offers some tough lines for his opponents here and then - which makes him so popular.

I seriously doubt though that he could actually win the 1st round against Pröll.

[Tender Branson]

Maybe I'm totally wrong, but this really strikes me when reading about Austrian politics... All Austrian politicians seem to be boring white men over 50 (Strache and the 20-something Foreign Minister being the obvious exceptions). Is that also the perception of many Austrians, and does it influence the way people look at the political arena in general?

Yes, but isn't that the case in most countries ?

The share of women in the Parliament is ca. 35% - which is not all too bad, but of course could be higher.

I don't think that the Austrian voters care if the politicians are old or young. Maybe that's a factor for first-time voters, who prefer to see more young politicians around. That's why the Greens, NEOS and FPÖ do so well with young voters, because these parties actually have a decent amount of young MPs. SPÖVP+TS on the other hand not.

[DavidB.]

Maybe I'm totally wrong, but this really strikes me when reading about Austrian politics... All Austrian politicians seem to be boring white men over 50 (Strache and the 20-something Foreign Minister being the obvious exceptions). Is that also the perception of many Austrians, and does it influence the way people look at the political arena in general?

Yes, but isn't that the case in most countries ?

The share of women in the Parliament is ca. 35% - which is not all too bad, but of course could be higher.

I don't think that the Austrian voters care if the politicians are old or young. Maybe that's a factor for first-time voters, who prefer to see more young politicians around. That's why the Greens, NEOS and FPÖ do so well with young voters, because these parties actually have a decent amount of young MPs. SPÖVP+TS on the other hand not.

Thanks for your explanation. I don't know why, but I had the impression that this was even more the case in Austria than in the rest of North-Western Europe.

I also had the impression that Greens, NEOS, and FPÖ were somewhat of an exception to this "rule". To be sure, I don't have anything against old white male politicians, but if there were such a reality, it might affect Austrians' view on politics, which could be interesting in and of itself.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well the big issue in Austrian politics is that it's a bit of an old boys network isn't it? Much more so than most other countries. I mean (and this is just one observation out of many) the ÖVP have been in government since 1987 even though many of the governments have been very different. And of course the old boys network also tends to heavily favour the interests of (for instance) pensioners and other designated interest groups. That's why you have such ridiculously high levels of support for blatant protest parties, most of which are clearly not well suited to running anything more complex than the old proverbial whelk stall.

[Tender Branson]

Well the big issue in Austrian politics is that it's a bit of an old boys network isn't it? Much more so than most other countries. I mean (and this is just one observation out of many) the ÖVP have been in government since 1987 even though many of the governments have been very different. And of course the old boys network also tends to heavily favour the interests of (for instance) pensioners and other designated interest groups. That's why you have such ridiculously high levels of support for blatant protest parties, most of which are clearly not well suited to running anything more complex than the old proverbial whelk stall.

That's exactly the reason why we need a Green-NEOS coalition, to break this stranglehold of incest and degeneration (SPÖVP) and the FPÖ (which would f**k up the country -> see Carinthia).

SPÖVP has worked well in the decades after the 2nd WW, but now they are just caretakers of (economic and social) standstill, 99% of their politicians are without any backbone and they turned themselves into a politically correct Wackeldackel who is just saying "YES, sure" & waving through almost anything that the EU proposes.

Greens & NEOS would pass the measures and policies that are needed for the 21st century, while SPÖVP remains in the 20th ...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A Greens-NEOS coalition would indeed be excellent news... for SPÖVP.

[Tender Branson]

SPÖVP has found a new topic to bridge the "summer hole" and now wants to end the so-called "cold progression" or "bracket creep":

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21601529-flush-tax-revenues-germany-considers-ending-bracket-creep-steep-and-cold-progression

http://derstandard.at/2000019495496/Neues-Steuerzuckerl-bringt-Budgetpfad-ins-Wanken

This would help the average Austrian worker get another 50-150€ a month in wage.

...

Of course, the SPÖVP government wants to refocus on their tax-reform that they passed recently in parliament, which will kick into gear on Jan. 1, 2016 and which will result in additional 4-6% wage for each worker every month. This package is also likely to jumpstart the economy next year.

SPÖVP is heading for a massive defeat in the state elections in September and October, so they need to pull all the stops so that the FPÖ does not wipe them out based on the dominating asylum topic.

[Tender Branson]

An apparent illegal party financing scandal hits the FPÖ (apparently, suitcases full of money have been transferred from a Carinthian think-tank agency to the FPÖ's headquarter in Vienna).

The FPÖ denies it, saying the accusations are coming from the marxist "Falter" newspaper.

The Austrian corruption prosecution office is still investigating it.

http://diepresse.com/home/politik/innenpolitik/4783803/Illegale-Parteienfinanzierung_Nur-Schall-und-Rauch-?

[Tender Branson]

A new OGM poll for the ORF's ECO report shows that the federal SPÖVP government is in the dumpster, getting a strong 24-74 disapproval rating from voters.

Also, Austrian voters want the government mostly to focus on these 3 topics: "creating new jobs/securing existing jobs (68%)", "securing pensions (58%)" and "reduction of the budget deficit (42%)".



http://www.ogm.at/2015/07/orfeco-die-regierung-soll-sich-um-arbeitsplaetze-kuemmern

...

On the topic of the 3rd Greek bailout package, Austrian voters are strongly opposed or sceptical about it.

36% say that the bailout package is the right thing to do
58% say it's unacceptable

52% also say that "we are not going to see any penny of our bailout money anymore".



http://www.ogm.at/2015/07/orfeco-keine-freude-ueber-das-3-hilfspaket-fuer-griechenland

...

On the topic of the income tax cut package that will start on Jan. 1, 2016 - Austrians are slightly opposed (41-53) to the package as a whole, even though they like that their income taxes are being cut (51%).

Austrians don't like the fact though that the bank secrecy law was changed and that the government now has the possibility to take a look into all their bank accounts.

Also, there are several bureaucratic steps planned for small business owners to squeeze out more tax money, such as introducing mandatory bills when customers buy something. This is seen by many Austrians as further paternalism against hard-working small business owners:



http://www.ogm.at/2015/07/orfeco-maessige-begeisterung-der-steuerreform

[Tender Branson]

For the first time since the year 2000, the FPÖ hits 30% in a federal poll:

Unique Research for "Profil" magazine

30% FPÖ (+9.5)
24% SPÖ (-3.0)
23% ÖVP (-1.0)
13% Greens (+0.5)
  8% NEOS (+3.0)
  2% Others (-9.0)

http://www.profil.at/oesterreich/umfrage-fpoe-strache-5773301

[Tender Branson]

Yesterday, 400 asylum seekers in the overcrowded asylum centre in Traiskirchen started a fight because a Somali girl kicked a football over a fence ... The centre was built for 500, but now there are 4.000 people bunched together there.

Once again, a massive deployment of police forces was needed to "neutralize" the situation, in which several police and asylum seekers were injured.

And people are wondering why the FPÖ has hit 30% ...

This whole situation is becoming unbearable. Thank goodness the Hungarians are building that border fence at their southern border, so that this massive illegal influx will likely slow down a bit over the next months.

I don't know what our horrible SPÖVP government is waiting for ? More excesses in the camps ? Dead people ? Attacks by racists against asylum seekers ?

Time to shut down the border and increase border controls by 1000%.

[palandio]

Immagine you were a young Eritrean or Somali.

You have paid 5.000€ to get to Europe.
You survived the Sahara.
You escaped Bedouin slave-hunters.
You were trapped into a Turkish mini-bus together with 40 others for two days.
You crossed the Aegaean Sea in an over-crowded rubber boat and saw people drowning.
You walked on the railroad tracks through Macedonia and you were robbed by other refugees.

And now you are on the Serbian-Hungarian border. There is a fence. You won't succeed in getting over the border the first time you try it. You try again. And again. Then you succeed.

In Hungary you have to hide from far-right militias. You want to go to the West, Austria, Germany, Sweden, France, UK, something like that.
You try to cross the border. The first time you get caught and sent back to Hungary. You try again. And again. The worst case is getting caught and sent back, you have nothing to lose. Finally you succeed.


I don't wonder why the FPÖ has hit 30%. It is because people like simple answers. Shutting down the border will at most halt the wave for some weeks and maybe scare off a few economic refugees from Kosovo, Serbia and Albania.

[Helsinkian]

So why is it that these Eritrean or Somalian asylum seekers insist on claiming asylum only in Central or Northern Europe? There are dozens of other countries in between. The answer, of course, is that these are for the large part economic migrants, not actual refugees fleeing from personal persecution.

[politicus]

So why is it that these Eritrean or Somalian asylum seekers insist on claiming asylum only in Central or Northern Europe? There are dozens of other countries in between. The answer, of course, is that these are for the large part economic migrants, not actual refugees fleeing from personal persecution.

Most of them are both, which is part of the problem. The UN refugee convention was created to take care of political dissidents from the Eastern bloc (mainly), whereas modern refugee streams from conflict areas have more in common with, say, Eastern European Jews fleeing to America in the late 1800s. They were both persecuted in their hellish homelands and in search of a better future for the children. The problem is we do not have another America to fill. We are in dire need of a total rethinking of the global refugee system, but there is no one to take charge of it.The UN is hopelessly inefficient.

The distribution of refugees should not depend on what countries they were able to reach by paying large sums to traffickers, but be allocated on a need basis.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Immagine you were a young Eritrean or Somali.

You have paid 5.000€ to get to Europe.
You survived the Sahara.
You escaped Bedouin slave-hunters.
You were trapped into a Turkish mini-bus together with 40 others for two days.
You crossed the Aegaean Sea in an over-crowded rubber boat and saw people drowning.
You walked on the railroad tracks through Macedonia and you were robbed by other refugees.

And now you are on the Serbian-Hungarian border. There is a fence. You won't succeed in getting over the border the first time you try it. You try again. And again. Then you succeed.

In Hungary you have to hide from far-right militias. You want to go to the West, Austria, Germany, Sweden, France, UK, something like that.
You try to cross the border. The first time you get caught and sent back to Hungary. You try again. And again. The worst case is getting caught and sent back, you have nothing to lose. Finally you succeed.

send the buggers back imo enoch was rite

[Viewfromthenorth]

So why is it that these Eritrean or Somalian asylum seekers insist on claiming asylum only in Central or Northern Europe? There are dozens of other countries in between. The answer, of course, is that these are for the large part economic migrants, not actual refugees fleeing from personal persecution.

Most of them are both, which is part of the problem. The UN refugee convention was created to take care of political dissidents from the Eastern bloc (mainly), whereas modern refugee streams from conflict areas have more in common with, say, Eastern European Jews fleeing to America in the late 1800s. They were both persecuted in their hellish homelands and in search of a better future for the children. The problem is we do not have another America to fill. We are in dire need of a total rethinking of the global refugee system, but there is no one to take charge of it.The UN is hopelessly inefficient.

The distribution of refugees should not depend on what countries they were able to reach by paying large sums to traffickers, but be allocated on a need basis.

This is actually by far the most interesting perspective I've read so far on the issue. Perhaps the first thing that we (as in people of European countries) need to recognize is that one can be persecuted without being hopelessly poor and uninformed. Of course, that's not going to happen, because people like binary perspectives to things.

[Tender Branson]

Immagine you were a young Eritrean or Somali.

You have paid 5.000€ to get to Europe.
You survived the Sahara.
You escaped Bedouin slave-hunters.
You were trapped into a Turkish mini-bus together with 40 others for two days.
You crossed the Aegaean Sea in an over-crowded rubber boat and saw people drowning.
You walked on the railroad tracks through Macedonia and you were robbed by other refugees.

And now you are on the Serbian-Hungarian border. There is a fence. You won't succeed in getting over the border the first time you try it. You try again. And again. Then you succeed.

In Hungary you have to hide from far-right militias. You want to go to the West, Austria, Germany, Sweden, France, UK, something like that.
You try to cross the border. The first time you get caught and sent back to Hungary. You try again. And again. The worst case is getting caught and sent back, you have nothing to lose. Finally you succeed.


I don't wonder why the FPÖ has hit 30%. It is because people like simple answers. Shutting down the border will at most halt the wave for some weeks and maybe scare off a few economic refugees from Kosovo, Serbia and Albania.

It doesn't really matter if they try again to come in or not. If they come again, they need to be deported, period. The SPÖVP government has the duty to secure the Austrian border under Article 10 of the Austrian Constitution. And they are not doing it right now. Even the Schengen agreement can be suspended if there is a crisis. And we currently experience a crisis: an asylum seeker crisis.

The government should do everything to discourage economic migrants from the Middle-East and Africa to come here and show them that here is not the place to come and claim benefits. The Danes recently (like the Austrian Interior Minister) decided to run ads in newspapers of the countries where these people are coming from. Because of this, the number of people claiming asylum from Kosovo has dropped from 3000 in Q1 to some 100 in the next months. Stuff like this works.

But it won't work for people from the Middle-East and Africa. For these people, you need tougher measures - otherwise we'll get "swamped" in the future and the unbearable conditions in the camps will only get worse. The borders need to be closed down for at least the next 3 years, rigorous passport checks introduced and illegals and smugglers rounded up and immediately deported within 1 month to their countries of origin or nearby. For this, the border patrol force needs to be massively increased, because in the last years under Schengen the controls have been extremely lame and negligent. And because of this negligent policy, asylum seekers from all around the globe have singled out several European countries that they can "invade", because they know that their politically-correct politicians won't act because they have no spine.

[politicus]

@Tender: IE may be wrong board to discuss refugee policy. It will derail the thread quickly . This is more IP or Political Debate stuff.

[Tender Branson]

@Tender: IE may be wrong board to discuss refugee policy. It will derail the thread quickly . This is more IP or Political Debate stuff.

A page or 2 of discussion on this topic won't hurt it really, because:

I plan on shutting this thread down anway after the September and October state elections.