Moosbrugger backs drought aid as FPÖ calls package a loss

Agriculture Chamber President Josef Moosbrugger has welcomed the approved drought relief measures for farmers, while the FPÖ has criticised the package as a financial burden. Speaking on ORF radio on Saturday, Moosbrugger said the agreement was “highly necessary” and unavoidable for farming families facing severe losses.

Moosbrugger described the measures as an important emergency package to temporarily safeguard farms’ liquidity. He rejected claims that farmers had come out ahead, saying farming families would still have to bear most of the damage. He also continued to oppose mandatory insurance.

The FPÖ said the measures would ultimately leave farmers worse off. Party Secretary-General Michael Schnedlitz criticised plans for farmers’ social insurance system to transfer 50 million euros a year from its surpluses to the federal government in the coming years to help finance the relief.

“The drought is being used to take even more money from farmers in their time of need and redirect it towards balancing the federal budget,” Schnedlitz said in a statement. He claimed the package would provide farmers with 140 million euros now but require them to repay 250 million euros over the following years, resulting in a net loss of 110 million euros.

Lower Austria’s deputy governor, Udo Landbauer of the FPÖ, said farmers had been misled and described the measures as a “brazen rip-off”. With direct drought damage already exceeding one billion euros, he called the package “an absolute mess and a slap in the face”.

The Agriculture Chamber rejected the criticism, telling the Austrian Press Agency that the FPÖ’s account was wrong and that farmers would not lose any money. It said the transfers from the social insurance system involved past or future federal subsidies, rather than contributions paid or to be paid by farmers.