Stocker ends nationwide listening tour with critical questions

Chancellor Christian Stocker of the Austrian People’s Party ended his “Austria in Conversation” tour in Linz on Tuesday, where around 200 selected guests discussed their concerns with him at Johannes Kepler University, ORF reported. Health, education and the pension system were among the issues raised most often, Stocker said.

The six-week tour took Stocker through all nine federal states. It began on July 16 in Tulln, Lower Austria, and concluded in Linz.

Stocker said the tour was intended to give him a direct understanding of the issues affecting people while also allowing the government to explain its decisions and plans. The concerns raised will be recorded and processed by the Citizens’ Service, he said. Participants will later be informed of the results.

Discussions during the tour covered education, childcare, healthcare, pensions, agriculture and economic issues. In Upper Austria, participants also raised the recent drought and the new climate law.

Asked whether the law could harm the competitiveness of Upper Austrian industrial companies, Stocker pointed to a location clause that he said would protect their competitiveness. Austria would have to adapt to climate change while reducing carbon dioxide emissions, he said, adding that the climate law provided a roadmap for doing so.

Participants in Linz also asked about the future of work and pensions. A young woman from St. Georgen am Walde in the Perg district questioned what she saw as insufficient support for nursing staff compared with companies in the wider economy. Politicians’ salaries and the cost of chauffeur services for private appointments were also challenged.

At the previous stop in Eisenstadt, participants raised apprenticeship training, gas prices and support for businesses, alongside economic, education, labour and social issues.

A statement Stocker made during a Salzburg event about unpaid care work also came up in Linz. After saying that he would not regard childcare as work, he faced criticism and apologised. On Tuesday, he said his original answer had been wrong and that childcare was work.

Up to 200 people could take part in each discussion. Participants had to register in advance, and their selection was carried out with scientific and statistical support from pollster Peter Hajek. Age, gender, education and social background were among the factors considered to provide a broad cross-section of the population, according to the chancellor’s office.