Koza warns: cuts endanger successes against poverty and exclusion!

Koza warns: cuts endanger successes against poverty and exclusion!

This day, April 29, 2025, the social spokesman for the Greens, Markus Koza, introduces the recent poverty numbers. According to Koza, the number of people affected by poverty in Austria has decreased slightly, but the situation remains worrying. He calls for the continuation and strengthening of successful measures to combat poverty and warns of the danger that government plans could endanger these successes. The planned cuts of the climate monus and changes in social assistance that are of crucial importance for many households could have a particularly negative impact.

After Koza, the planned reforms could hit the children at risk of poverty and their families hard. In the past, the new children's surcharge (§104 EStG) has contributed to reducing the number of disadvantaged children from 88,000 to 79,000. However, cuts in child classes in social assistance could destroy this progress. Koza emphasizes that the number of people at risk of poverty has increased in households.

state support measures under pressure

In addition, a planned ban on unemployment benefits could further deteriorate the financial situation of numerous families. Koza emphasizes that the abolition of the climate bonus at risk of poverty, such as a family of four in Donaustadt, would cost at least 585 euros a year. These financial losses make the weakest members of society particularly hard.

In addition, the poverty conference was pointed out to the positive effects of value adjustments in social benefits, which could reduce the risk of poverty from 45% to 14.7%. These adjustments and the climate bonus have primarily come close to the households weak. However, the lack of reforms in unemployment insurance and social assistance that could also help these households are criticized.

Germany in comparison: A look at the borders

A comparison to Germany shows similar problems. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, 14.4% of the population live in monetary poverty, which corresponds to around 12.1 million people. Children, single parents and pensioners are particularly affected, whereby over 40% of single parent households are considered to be at risk of poverty. The Hartz IV reforms have led to an inadequate social security system, the reforms of which have only partially brought improvements.

The inflation development of recent years has significantly tightened the financial challenges for low -income households in Germany. Every fifth child is threatened by poverty. State support is often not sufficient to ensure an appropriate standard of living. Despite high expenses for social security, it turns out that many people are not sufficiently supported.

Developments in both countries show the urgent need for far -reaching reforms in the area of ​​social security. There is a clear demand for increased measures to combat poverty in order to ensure the quality of life for the most disadvantaged members of society.

Overall, it remains to be seen whether those responsible build up the necessary pressure in order to effectively act against increasing poverty and social exclusion. The success story of previous measures may not be endangered by questionable savings plans.

For more information on the views of Markus Koza, you can find the article on Armutskonferenz . You can read the report by Human Rights Watch here: Human Rights Watch .