Government crisis: Is Austria facing new elections or agreement?

Government crisis: Is Austria facing new elections or agreement?

Laimgrubengasse 10, 1060 Wien, Österreich - The political situation is bubbling in Austria: never before was a new government wrestled so hard. The parties are irreconcilable, with the coalition talks between the ÖVP and the NEOS stalls. Susanne Schnabl will discuss on Sunday, February 9, 2025, at 10:10 p.m. in "The Conversation" on ORF 2 and ORF on, among others Werner Kogler from the Greens and Andreas Babler from the SPÖ at the table. The focus of the discussion will be on the negotiations and the question of whether the politicians are able to find a sustainable compromise or whether new elections become inevitable, as the APA-OTS reported.

budget crisis and austerity measures

The central issues of the current negotiations are the budget and the necessary budget consolidation, which proves to be extremely complicated. There is an agreement that a renovation should not take place within four years, but over seven years in order to cope with the savings of over 18 billion euros. The talks showed that the ÖVP and NEOS are against new taxes, while the SPÖ vehemently advocates asset and inheritance taxes. Experts have long recommended a reform of property tax as a possible compromise. The increase in VAT was also discussed, whereby consumers would be affected by this regulation, such as orf.at reported.

Another point of dispute is the reform of the pension system. The NEOs are calling for a gradual increase in the statutory retirement age from 65 to 67 years between 2034 and 2040. This topic could complicate the negotiations, especially since both ÖVP and SPÖ have a large number of pensioners who hope for an agreement without the Neos. In addition, the question of a profound federalism reform remains in the floating, since all parties debate about the sovereignty of the income and expenditure, which is of little approval from the ÖVP and SPÖ. Time is forced and the common position could be crucial to avoid a haphazard transition to new elections.