Petrol prices fuel new fury

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Business

A motorist association has called on the government to interfere in the Austrian mineral oil industry’s price determination.Arbö criticised today (Mon) that one litre of regular car fuel was 4.5 Eurocent cheaper at a petrol station in Germany than at a station in the adjacent Austrian province of Salzburg despite higher mineral oil taxes in […]

Poor support for SPÖ-ÖVP after budget revelations

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Politics

Fewer than one out of four Austrians are satisfied with the government’s work, according to a poll.Researchers Karmasin found that just 22 per cent are pleased by the performance of the coalition of Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the People’s Party (ÖVP) which took office in December 2008.Sixteen per cent said they were in favour of […]

Austrian unemployment rate edges up

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Business

Austria has failed to retain its position as the Eurozone’s jobless rate model pupil, it emerged today (Fri).Figures presented by Eurostat, the European Commission’s (EC) statistics agency, show that 4.5 per cent of people living in Austria had no job last month (August 2010: 4.3 per cent). The Netherlands, which took second place in August, […]

Ametsreiter wants higher education expenditure

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Business

Telekom Austria (TA) boss Hannes Ametsreiter has called for more investments in the education sector.The businessman said today (Thurs) Austria must “urgently” think about how to improve the education system.”We must spend more on education if Austrian firms want to be able to compete internationally. Austria has always had a high creative potential. We must […]

Austria to close embassies

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Politics

People’s Party (ÖVP) Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said he has been “forced” into closing some Austrian embassies due to cutbacks ordered by his ministry for the coming years.The minister said today (Mon): “I have not got any other option than closing some embassies.”Spindelegger refused to reveal how many Austrian representations abroad will be shut and […]

Austria’s competing power second-best in Eurozone

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Business

Austria has the second-best competitive edge in the Eurozone, a leading think tank has claimed.The Brussels-based Lisbon Council announced today (Mon) that Germany (8.5 points) had the greatest competitiveness among the 16 European union (EU) member states which have adopted the Euro as their sole currency.Austria garnered 8.3 points in the study to come second […]

Anger as government eyes mineral oil tax increase

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Business

Car clubs have turned their guns on the government over plans to raise taxes on mineral oil (MöSt).ÖAMTC said today (Thurs) the coalition of Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) was “lacking ideas” in its attempts to restore the state budget as government officials hinted towards higher MöSt from next year.The motorists’ […]

Steinbrück attacks Austrian government over budget delay

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Politics

Former German Social Democratic (SPD) Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück has criticised the Austrian Social Democrats (SPÖ) for holding back information on the 2011 budget after two provincial elections took place.The Austrian SPÖ government and the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) controversially announced it would wait until December to reveal possible higher or new taxes and cuts. […]

Austrian jobless rate still lowest in EU

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Business

Austria has retained its title of being the European Union’s (EU) jobless rate model pupil.The European Commission’s (EC) statistics body Eurostat found that Austria still had the lowest unemployment rate among the EU-27 with 4.3 per cent, followed by the Netherlands where 4.5 per cent of residents were out of work in August.The agency also […]

Coalition feud continues as think tanks up outlook

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Business

Political decision-makers are at odds over what conclusions to draw from economic predictions made today (Fri).The Institute for Economic Research (WIFO) and the Institute for Higher Studies (IHS) announced they expected the Austrian economy to recover quicker from the credit crunch than initially predicted.IHS said the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) will rise by 1.8 […]