First federal state in Austria wants to pay back corona penalties

Lower Austria wants to be the first federal state in the Alpine Republic to pay back part of the corona penalties imposed over the past three years to those affected. This is one of the measures that the new coalition of conservative ÖVP and right-wing FPÖ have agreed on, said state FPÖ boss Udo Landbauer on Friday. To this end, the state government will set up a fund endowed with 30 million euros, with which penalties based on regulations would be compensated, which have since been classified as illegal by the Constitutional Court. The Corona package also includes the “end of discrimination for the unvaccinated” and a stop to advertising for the vaccination, it said. The FPÖ has been protesting against the Corona policy for a long time.

The incumbent Prime Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) explained that according to the joint work agreement, the focus should be on top performers, parents, entrepreneurs and farmers. With the expansion of kindergartens and the extension of the opening hours for these facilities, the federal state wants to become the region in Europe "where families have it best."

According to the two top politicians, there has been a deep rift at state level between the ÖVP and the FPÖ. But now the two sides are aiming for a "sustainable working relationship," according to Mikl-Leitner. Previous talks between the ÖVP and the social democratic SPÖ had failed. The SPÖ caused the negotiations to fail with a "package of excessiveness", said Mikl-Leitner. The decision to form an ÖVP-FPÖ coalition in the nine federal states with the most voters was criticized by artists and the head of the Vienna Jewish Community (IKG), among others.

In the state elections at the end of January, the ÖVP, which had previously ruled with an absolute majority, fell to 39.9 percent. At the same time, the FPÖ improved significantly to 24.2 percent. The right-wing populists are on the rise and come first in nationwide polls with 30 percent approval. The alliance of ÖVP and FPÖ at the federal level under the then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz made international headlines. In 2019 it was broken because of the Ibiza affair. The next National Council elections are planned for autumn 2024.