A 30 metre high wall of ice appeared in the Austrian town of Bad Gastein in Salzburg over the weekend for a new ice climbing competition. The enormous wall played host to 20 competitors whilst more than 1,000 spectators watched on. Such scenes are normally only associated with the mountainous Austrian countryside but on Saturday, […]
The government is facing friendly fire after revealing plans to slash the parliament’s number of seats. The Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and its coalition partner, the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP), said earlier this month the parliament should feature just 165 delegates instead of the current 183. The reform could come into effect after the next […]
Bank Austria (BA) CEO Willibald Cernko has warned from letting Greece go bust. Cernko said at the weekend Europe “should consider very well whether it would be a good idea to dismiss a country from the Eurozone.” The banker claimed such a move “would put the European project into question.” The BA chief warned that […]
Johanna Mikl-Leitner has defended the government’s disputed pension system agenda. The interior minister dismissed accusations that the recently presented budget consolidation agreement featured too many open questions. Mikl-Leitner told Die Presse that substantial structural reforms would be achieved if the average retirement age rises from the current 58 to 61 or 62 in 2020. The […]
Volksbank International (VBI) will continue to have its headquarters in Vienna, the vice chairman of the finance institute’s new owner has promised. Sergey Gorkov, the deputy head of Sberbank’s executive board, said today (Mon) VBI would not leave the Austrian capital. He told the Kurier newspaper the plan was to increase the number of staff […]
A one-year-old boy who was taken from his mother over an unpaid fine has finally been allowed to go home. Austrian social workers removed the baby from his teenage mother’s care because the toddler’s grandmother had not paid a speeding ticket. The court in Lambach decided on Thursday that the young J. L. should go […]
Viennese Social Democratic (SPÖ) Financial Affairs Councillor Renate Brauner has stressed that “immense challenges” are ahead for the city. Brauner told the Kurier today (Fri) that the Viennese SPÖ-Greens coalition would try to avoid a decrease of service quality to citizens despite the need to save one billion Euros in the coming five years. Brauner […]
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has identified creating jobs as his chief priority. The head of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), who became prime minister of the former Yugoslavian country after the general election last December, said in Vienna yesterday (Thurs) his main goal was to consolidate the Croatian budget and improve its […]
Political leaders and showbiz stars had only kind words about last night’s (Thurs) Opera Ball. Austrian President Heinz Fischer said the event had nothing to do with the corruption scandals former Austrian government ministers, businesspeople and lobbyists are accused of being involved in. A special parliamentary commission headed by Gabriela Moser of the Green Party […]
Heavy snowfall in mountainous areas around Austria over the last two days has resulted in nine avalanches and the death of two people. Several roads around the country are impassable after the new snow with the state of Vorarlberg left completely cut off from the rest of Austria. A series of severe avalanches in the […]