Austria ( Bureau report) In the National Council on Wednesday, shortly before the summer break, numerous legislative matters with broad impact were passed: The most important of these are the new Green Electricity Act – called the Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) – and the anti-terror package. In addition, however, many individual laws in the social and work area were laid down. The anti-terror package and the EAG were agreed in the morning. The latter with votes from SPÖ and NEOS. In the late afternoon it was the turn of social and work issues. For example, 24 million euros were made available to prevent eviction, created the legal basis for establishing community nurses and made changes to the vaccination certificates for those recovering from Covid-19. The rules on wage and social dumping have been softened. New administrative penalties. Specifically, with the votes of the ÖVP and the Greens, the accumulation principle for administrative penalties in the case of wage and social dumping by companies was abolished. Instead, the penalties will be staggered in future, taking into account various criteria such as the extent of the underpaid, with a range of penalties between 20,000 and 400,000 euros. Response to ECJ ruling. This was to take account of a ruling by the ECJ from 2019, which had assessed the Austrian penalties in some cases as disproportionate and contrary to Union law. An improved fight against wage and social dumping as well as illegal employment was the thrust of a joint initiative by the ÖVP, SPÖ and the Greens, with which – voluntarily – an identity card is established for the building. Help with rent arrears. There was broad consensus on the amendment to the “Covid 19 Poverty Act”, the aim of which is to prevent the eviction of tenants who have built up rent arrears as a result of the CoV crisis. Up to 24 million euros will be made available for such projects in 2021, 2022 and 2023. An amendment to the Covid-19 Measures Act ensured that people who have recovered from a CoV infection can be issued a vaccination certificate after the first vaccination. In addition, the period of validity of ordinances regulating meetings of more than 500 people has been extended. Education bonus expanded. The education bonus, a 120 euro surcharge on unemployment benefit for training, was extended to include training courses that had been started before October of the previous year. However, access to special assistance for unemployed miners has been made more difficult. The age of access will be gradually increased from 52 to 62 years by 2035. Dispute over financing the crisis costs. At the start of the last week of plenary before the summer break, the political groups exchanged very unfriendly ideas about the settlement of the crisis costs. In a “current hour”, the SPÖ, headed by Pamela Rendi-Wagner, demanded the introduction of inheritance and wealth taxes. Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) considered this to be counterproductive because it was a drag on the economy. With the votes of the ÖVP, Greens, SPÖ and NEOS, the Renewable Expansion Law (EAG) had already been passed in the morning. It is intended to help Austria achieve 100 percent green electricity on the balance sheet by 2030. Until then, one billion euros will be invested annually in the expansion. Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) was delighted to talk about a “great day for climate protection” and, while voting, happily snapped a selfie with the MPs in the background. An increase of 27 terawatt hours (TWh) from renewable sources is planned, which, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure, corresponds to eight times the output of the nuclear reactor in Zwentendorf, which never went into operation. The expansion is divided into 11 TWh photovoltaics, 10 TWh wind power, 5 TWh hydropower and 1 TWh biomass. According to the ministry, this corresponds to an increase of 50 percent over the existing green electricity production (55.6 TWh). In response to the attack in Vienna in November, an anti-terror package was also adopted. Criticism came in the debate mainly from the FPÖ, which the measures do not go far enough. In details, however, the SPÖ and NEOS also distanced themselves. Among other things, case conferences will be expanded and an ankle cuff will be made possible in the event of conditional release of those convicted of terrorism articles. The package also includes a criminal offense for “religiously motivated” crimes. Criticism came from the FPÖ and NEOS. FPÖ MP Harald Stefan said that this fact was already shown in another paragraph, which means that it is a matter of “show legislation”.
About the Author
