Lower Austria’s ÖVP backs welfare reform as FPÖ criticises it

Lower Austria’s ÖVP supports the federal government’s planned social assistance reform, while the FPÖ says it does not go far enough, ORF reported. State Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner said the state’s model had served as a benchmark for the nationwide changes.

“Those who need help should get help. But those who can work should work,” Mikl-Leitner said on Friday. She added that people who work should not be “the fools” and said Lower Austria could not support the reform without that principle.

The draft would impose stricter requirements on recipients who are able to work. Full benefits would depend on efforts to integrate and willingness to take up employment. Breaches could lead to graduated cuts, including, in the most serious cases, the complete withdrawal of benefits.

Mikl-Leitner welcomed the additional powers to sanction people who fail to meet integration requirements. Lower Austria intends to implement them “at the earliest possible time” and “make full use” of them. The state will examine the rest of the draft during the consultation process, she said.

Deputy Governor Udo Landbauer of the FPÖ called the planned changes “at best a rotten compromise”. He cited a Syrian extended family in Vienna that, he said, could still receive more than 7,000 euros in social assistance.

Landbauer also called it “completely absurd” that immigrants would be financially rewarded for learning German. He said people receiving protection and assistance in another country should adapt and learn its language, and called for social assistance to be limited to help for Austrians in need.