Austrian Elections & Politics 4.0

[Former President tack50]

RIP Wels and those parts of Vienna with percentages of non German speakers in the 80s.

And I'm not the kind of person that usually freaks out about inmigrants, but them not learning German or using it as their primary language is literally the worst thing that can happen and shows that their integration level is essencially nonexistent.

Austria shouldn't allow this. If you've lived in Austria your entire life, you must speak flawless German. Of course, first generation inmigrants should be excluded from this, anyone learning a language as an adult or even an older child will never be perfect native speakersand probably will always have an accent, even if it's a faint one.

But anyone born in Austria and living in Austria for their entire life must speak flawless native German, no exceptions. Same goes with any other country in Europe really.

[parochial boy]

Hang out n, it doesn't say they can't speak German, just that it isn't their mother tongue

Which is perfectly normal for second generation immigrants and not a sign that they aren't integrating

[EPG]

Hang out n, it doesn't say they can't speak German, just that it isn't their mother tongue

Which is perfectly normal for second generation immigrants and not a sign that they aren't integrating

Yeah. This is either a failure of English translation, or a deliberate misprision.

[Former President tack50]

Hang out n, it doesn't say they can't speak German, just that it isn't their mother tongue

Which is perfectly normal for second generation immigrants and not a sign that they aren't integrating

Actually, wouldn't every person who speaks native level German still count as their mother tongue?

You can certainly have more than 1 mother tongue, and these second generation inmigrants should be the kinds of people who do (German at school and with one of their parents if it's a mixed marriage, their home language at home)

And ideally third generation inmigrants should stop using the other language at all (other than as a foreign language) but 3rd generation inmigrants haven't happened in big numbers yet in Austria I guess (though they certainly should be there in places like France and the UK)

[rob in cal]

  Does the article say what the most common non-German languages spoken are? I'm guessing Turkish, Arabic and Polish?

[EPG]

Hmm... Tied Turkish and Serbo-Croat.

[bigic]

Serbo-Croat

That maybe explains why FPO has the mayor of Wels, as the party panders to Serbian nationalist immigrants - they seek endorsement from the Serbian right-wing (Tomislav Nikolić, Dragan Marković Palma), they vocally take Serbia's position on the Kosovo issue, that RTRS interview etc.
Although I don't know exact composition of the immigrant population of Wels

[rob in cal]

  according to Wikipedia, Wels foreign background population is Bosnian, Turk, Croat, Serb in that order, but what kind of Bosnians and Croats?

[DavidB.]

Serbo-Croat

That maybe explains why FPO has the mayor of Wels, as the party panders to Serbian nationalist immigrants - they seek endorsement from the Serbian right-wing (Tomislav Nikolić, Dragan Marković Palma), they vocally take Serbia's position on the Kosovo issue, that RTRS interview etc.

Good.

[parochial boy]

Serbo-Croat

That maybe explains why FPO has the mayor of Wels, as the party panders to Serbian nationalist immigrants - they seek endorsement from the Serbian right-wing (Tomislav Nikolić, Dragan Marković Palma), they vocally take Serbia's position on the Kosovo issue, that RTRS interview etc.

Good.

[Tender Branson]

Thanks for your inputs.

A few points (top to bottom):

The Kurier article is an examination of non-German speakers in elementary schools (those between the ages of 6 and 10) and therefore outlines "the future to come".

Whereas Austria has a foreign population of 15% right now and about 23% with a migrant background (= both of their parents are born abroad), the share of non-German speakers in our elementary schools is already 30%. In another report I found, the number of non-German speakers in kindergartens is 32%, so it is rising further and further.

That's not surprising, because immigrants have a much higher fertility rate than Austrian parents, so of course there are more kids with a non-German speaking background in the early school years.

It doesn't necessarily mean that integration of these small kids is "failing", like poster Bosporus Blues said. It means that the higher number of these students is creating a lot of hands-on problems for teachers in the classroom (which I have already posted about). Many kids can't follow the lessons in German and it takes special German classes for them and some years to integrate them. A result is lower scores in testing + in international PISA results. A ressource strain will also lead to significantly worse chances later on when they enter the labour market.

---

When it comes to the foreign languages most common among elementary school students, Turkish is the most common. Unless you combine all the former Yugoslav languages, in that case "former Yugoslavia" comes out on top. Arabic has gained a lot of ground recently, with some 50.000 students (Turkish and Yugoslav are at around 90.000 each). There's also a significant increase in Eastern European languages such as Hungarian, Romanian and Polish.

Here's a chart for Vienna elementary schools by district:



Another problem, most evident in Vienna right now, is "white" flight and school segregration between native Austrian schools and mostly immigrant ones.

Many Austrian parents enroll their kids in schools with a high Austrian percentage because they think their kids will benefit from this and get better grades.

Or they simply move to the suburbs and out of Vienna in total, leaving behind a lot of growing, segregated schools with a high immigrant percentage (see chart).

Vienna tries to combat this, because a good mix of students is probably much better than segregated schools.

---

When it comes to the city of Wels, which has a large non-German student population and an FPÖ-mayor:

The FPÖ-mayor was possible not only because of the large former Yugoslav population which the FPÖ courts, but also because the SPÖ in the city has been bleeding votes to the FPÖ for years or decades now. This can be seen everywhere around the globe. Many workers (former SPÖ voters) and among them many immigrants are switching over to the FPÖ.

[Tender Branson]

With Pamela Rendi-Wagner, the Social Democrats are now back to where they were before the Kern-resignation:



Chancellor vote:



https://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Turbo-Start-fuer-Rendi-Wagner/351008112

[Tender Branson]

The ÖVP-FPÖ government has unveiled 2 new laws that will be passed in the coming weeks:

A significant tightening of the gun law, under a new EU directive, which will ban high-capacity magazines and limit gun sales only to citizens. The law will also include stricter terms for the mandatory psychological test that one has to pass ahead of buying a gun. Currently, you can repeat the test as often as you want at a different psychiatrist. Under the new law, if you fail the first test you will be blocked from another psycho test for 6 months and you will be banned from buying a gun if you fail the psycho test 2 times.



The new law will also be amended for asylum seekers: until now, asylum seekers were only banned from buying guns. Now, they will be banned from buying and carrying any sort of weapon, incl. knives with them. If they get caught with a weapon, there will be a fine. In repeat cases, they will be arrested. That is a reaction to the significantly increasing crimes committed by asylum seekers recently, incl. many murders, rapes and knife crimes.

https://orf.at/#/stories/3050882

https://www.kleinezeitung.at/politik/innenpolitik/5508582/Waffengesetz_Kickl-verbietet-Asylwerbern-das-Tragen-eines-Messers

ÖVP-FPÖ also wants to significantly go "green" and increase e-mobility in Austria until 2030. With the new e-mobility law, they will open bus lanes in cities for electro-cars (something the SPÖ and Greens now strongly oppose, lol). The law will also allow e-car owners to park for free in inner-city areas. e-car owners will also be exempt from the 60 mph (100 kmh) emmission-reduction-zones on highways and can drive 80 mph (130 kmh) instead in those zones.



https://www.kleinezeitung.at/politik/innenpolitik/5506579/Hofer-und-Koestinger_Luft100er-und-Busspuren_Bund-will-Ausnahmen

https://www.bmnt.gv.at/service/presse/umwelt/2018/K-stinger-Hofer--E-Mobilit-t-auf-der--berholspur.html

[Tender Branson]

New development:

Former Chancellor Christian Kern won't become SPÖ lead candidate for EU parliament after all.

He'll announce this in a few minutes.

Kern has become increasingly unpopular in the SPÖ after his sudden resignation as party leader a few weeks ago and maybe his decision is also because he didn't get the support from the European Social Dems as their EU-wide candidate.

Maybe Andreas Schieder will now become SPÖ lead candidate, or someone else ...

https://derstandard.at/2000088802307/Christian-Kern-tritt-nicht-als-Spitzenkandidat-bei-EU-Wahl-an

[rob in cal]

  Tender, thanks for Vienna chart.  It seems that in terms of Turkish vs former Yugoslavia, they usually correlate together, so where theres a lot of one group, usually a lot of the other as well, instead of say, Turks in one part of Vienna, former Yugoslavs in another.

[Tender Branson]

  Tender, thanks for Vienna chart.  It seems that in terms of Turkish vs former Yugoslavia, they usually correlate together, so where theres a lot of one group, usually a lot of the other as well, instead of say, Turks in one part of Vienna, former Yugoslavs in another.

Yeah, Vienna's 10th, 11th, 15th and 16th districts are historically the heavy working-class + immigrant dominated districts. So it's not a surprise that you will find many Turks (who arrived in the 1970s there) and Yugoslavs (who arrived in the 1990s) there.

Recent immigration to Vienna after Austria's EU membership in 1995 (since then, Vienna added 500.000 immigrants) was more evenly balanced among the districts, with the bigger northern ones booming (+2 to +3% annual growth), but also the traditional immigrant districts were gaining.

[Omega21]

The ÖVP-FPÖ government has unveiled 2 new laws that will be passed in the coming weeks:

A significant tightening of the gun law, under a new EU directive, which will ban high-capacity magazines and limit gun sales only to citizens. The law will also include stricter terms for the mandatory psychological test that one has to pass ahead of buying a gun. Currently, you can repeat the test as often as you want at a different psychiatrist. Under the new law, if you fail the first test you will be blocked from another psycho test for 6 months and you will be banned from buying a gun if you fail the psycho test 2 times.



The new law will also be amended for asylum seekers: until now, asylum seekers were only banned from buying guns. Now, they will be banned from buying and carrying any sort of weapon, incl. knives with them. If they get caught with a weapon, there will be a fine. In repeat cases, they will be arrested. That is a reaction to the significantly increasing crimes committed by asylum seekers recently, incl. many murders, rapes and knife crimes.

https://orf.at/#/stories/3050882

https://www.kleinezeitung.at/politik/innenpolitik/5508582/Waffengesetz_Kickl-verbietet-Asylwerbern-das-Tragen-eines-Messers

ÖVP-FPÖ also wants to significantly go "green" and increase e-mobility in Austria until 2030. With the new e-mobility law, they will open bus lanes in cities for electro-cars (something the SPÖ and Greens now strongly oppose, lol). The law will also allow e-car owners to park for free in inner-city areas. e-car owners will also be exempt from the 60 mph (100 kmh) emmission-reduction-zones on highways and can drive 80 mph (130 kmh) instead in those zones.



https://www.kleinezeitung.at/politik/innenpolitik/5506579/Hofer-und-Koestinger_Luft100er-und-Busspuren_Bund-will-Ausnahmen

https://www.bmnt.gv.at/service/presse/umwelt/2018/K-stinger-Hofer--E-Mobilit-t-auf-der--berholspur.html

When you say Citizens, do you mean EU citizens or Austrian citizens?

I am 99% sure that EU citizens can and will always be able to buy guns, as in almost every aspect they are to be treated equally as Austrians.

[Tender Branson]

When you say Citizens, do you mean EU citizens or Austrian citizens?

I am 99% sure that EU citizens can and will always be able to buy guns, as in almost every aspect they are to be treated equally as Austrians.

In this case, EU citizens.

The article mentions a gun purchase and possession ban for "Drittstaatsangehörige" (which excludes Austrians and EU citizens). Americans for example, Serbs or asylum seekers from the Middle East or Africa will be affected by the ban.

[Omega21]

When you say Citizens, do you mean EU citizens or Austrian citizens?

I am 99% sure that EU citizens can and will always be able to buy guns, as in almost every aspect they are to be treated equally as Austrians.

In this case, EU citizens.

The article mentions a gun purchase and possession ban for "Drittstaatsangehörige" (which excludes Austrians and EU citizens). Americans for example, Serbs or asylum seekers from the Middle East or Africa will be affected by the ban.

Definitely makes sense, full support for the changes.

[Tender Branson]

Vice Chancellor H.C. Strache (FPÖ) and his wife Philippa are awaiting their first child in January.

Well, for Strache it is his 3rd child already (he has a 15-year old son, Tristan, and a 17-year old daughter, Heidi, with his divorced former wife Daniela).



https://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Philippa-Strache-ist-schwanger/351284687

[Tender Branson]

Until October 15, all EU-member countries will have to notify the EU Commission about their updated budget/debt data for 2018 and for 2019.

Austria will send a balanced budget for 2018 to Brussels (for the first time in over 50 years) and projects a 0.1% surplus for 2019.

Finance Minister Löger (ÖVP) and Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP) today: "The time of burdening future generations with debt is now over."

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/bessere-zahlen-als-erwartet-mini-ueberschuss-2019/400138505

[Tender Branson]

New development:

Former Chancellor Christian Kern won't become SPÖ lead candidate for EU parliament after all.

He'll announce this in a few minutes.

Kern has become increasingly unpopular in the SPÖ after his sudden resignation as party leader a few weeks ago and maybe his decision is also because he didn't get the support from the European Social Dems as their EU-wide candidate.

Maybe Andreas Schieder will now become SPÖ lead candidate, or someone else ...

https://derstandard.at/2000088802307/Christian-Kern-tritt-nicht-als-Spitzenkandidat-bei-EU-Wahl-an

The SPÖ just confirmed Schieder (the former parliamentary group leader) as their replacement candidate for Kern.

https://orf.at/stories/3052102

Schieder is not a good choice in my opinion and he + the SPÖ are already getting a lot of criticism for the decision, because Schieder is just another long-serving political dinosaur who's been shipped off to Brussels instead of giving young people a chance to lead the SPÖ into the EU campaign.

[windjammer]

Until October 15, all EU-member countries will have to notify the EU Commission about their updated budget/debt data for 2018 and for 2019.

Austria will send a balanced budget for 2018 to Brussels (for the first time in over 50 years) and projects a 0.1% surplus for 2019.

Finance Minister Löger (ÖVP) and Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP) today: "The time of burdening future generations with debt is now over."

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/bessere-zahlen-als-erwartet-mini-ueberschuss-2019/400138505

When do you expect Austria to have its debt under 60% of the GDP?

[Tender Branson]

Until October 15, all EU-member countries will have to notify the EU Commission about their updated budget/debt data for 2018 and for 2019.

Austria will send a balanced budget for 2018 to Brussels (for the first time in over 50 years) and projects a 0.1% surplus for 2019.

Finance Minister Löger (ÖVP) and Chancellor Kurz (ÖVP) today: "The time of burdening future generations with debt is now over."

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/bessere-zahlen-als-erwartet-mini-ueberschuss-2019/400138505

When do you expect Austria to have its debt under 60% of the GDP?

It's actually in the article, but I forgot to post it ...

Debt was 78% of GDP last year and will fall to 73% this year and to 70% in 2019.

ÖVP-FPÖ and the major economic think tanks (WIFO, IHS, ÖNB, Bank Austria) project it to fall further to around 60% (= Maastricht threshold) until 2022, assuming there's no economic meltdown of course.

[Tender Branson]

Vice Chancellor H.C. Strache (FPÖ) and his wife Philippa are awaiting their first child in January.

Strache has said he intends to go into paternity leave after the birth of his child to help out his wife at home.

That is fairly interesting because the FPÖ is amongst the most traditionalist parties out there, which advocates women to stay home, cook and look after the children while the men are working.

Good to see that Strache sets an example here for other fathers.

https://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/5509498/Strache-will-sich-fuer-Baby-politische-Auszeit-nehmen