The National Council says goodbye to summer vacation on Friday. Early on, Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) tackled the “Question of the Hour” and surprised a bit with an apology that his Secretary of State Claudia Plakolm (ÖVP) had recently failed to respond adequately to an “urgent request” from the FPÖ The answers would be given in writing. Plakolm, who represented him, is not to blame. He takes responsibility.
On the other hand, the chancellor defended the merger of the cash registers, which recently gained negative headlines after a critical report by the Court of Auditors. The fact that there were initially additional costs rather than the advertised billion patients was undeniable, Nehammer said. However, the head of government advocates “efficiency reform” because there is always a high level of upfront funding for these projects and only then do efficiency increases bring savings.
Nehammer once again rejected price caps, for example, for fuel. So far, this has not proven effective in combating inflation in countries that have experienced it.
bleak prospects
The chancellor’s assessment of the war in Ukraine is grim. Nehammer spoke again of President Vladimir Putin’s war logic, which sees the end of the war only when the objective of aggression is achieved. The chancellor also warned against drawing ever closer the limits of a third world war. Therefore, discussion levels must be kept open.
In addition to the resolutions that were already planned, other issues arose in the last plenary days before the summer. Today, Ukrainians are included in the family allowance, yesterday a bonus for self-employed workers was incorporated to compensate for inflation. People with health insurance under the GSVG or BSVG with a contribution base between 566 euros and 2,900 euros are entitled to the extraordinary credit. The credit staggering starts with a contributory base of 566 euros with 160 euros, with contributory bases between 1,200 and 2,100 euros the value of the credit must be 500 euros. Up to 2,900 euros, it drops again to 100 euros.