Revival for rightist Hofburg Palace bash

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Politics

The Freedom Party (FPÖ) has been given the all-clear to host a ball at Hofburg Palace next year. The right-wing faction headed by Heinz-Christian Strache has been accused of failing to disassociate from right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis for decades. Several FPÖ parliament members (MPs) and high-ranking representatives of the party as well as spearheads of […]

Fekter sees possible €1bn bad bank burden

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Finance

People’s Party (ÖVP) Finance Minister Maria Fekter has admitted that another Austrian bank may need more money. Fekter told radio Ö1 on Saturday that KA Finanz could have a demand of one billion Euros. The finance institute was created in 2008 as the bad bank of nationalised Kommunalkredit. Fekter’s statement comes shortly after her party […]

Cold snap causes higher jobless rate

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Business

The number of unemployed people is on the rise in Austria. Statistik Austria announced yesterday (Thurs) that 310,000 residents of the country had no job in February. This is an increase of 6.1 per cent compared to the same month of 2011. Styria experienced the strongest increase among Austria’s nine provinces at 9.4 per cent. […]

Puls 4 outpaces ATV

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Business

ATV has been robbed of its standing as Austria’s most popular private TV station. Puls 4 overtook its key rival for the first time in four years thanks to a market share of 3.2 per cent last month. ATV garnered a stake of three per cent, according to TV consumption research released yesterday (Thurs). ServusTV, […]

Loss-making Erste Bank optimistic about EBA rules

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Finance

The head of Austria’s leading finance institute has shown understanding for the latest bank tax hike and confidence concerning more severe equity ratio regulations. Andreas Treichl, the CEO of Erste Bank Group AG (Erste Bank), said yesterday (Weds) he was not surprised by the government’s decision to jack up the bank solidarity charge by 25 […]

Stronach wants to fund political revolution

Categories
Politics

A renowned businessman has explained why he is ready to financially support a new political movement. Frank Stronach, the founder of automotive industry giant Magna International, made headlines a few days ago by claiming to be determined to provide a new political party of young people with “a lot of money”. Now the Austrian-Canadian entrepreneur […]

Another Bike City for Vienna

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Politics

The Viennese government has presented plans for a new Bike City housing project. The housing construction initiative for Liesing district resembles buildings in Leopoldstadt district and Vienna-Floridsdorf. Residents of the Bike City in Vienna-Leopoldstadt are allowed to own cars while people living on such an estate in Floridsdorf had to sign a declaration declaring they […]

Higher penalties are possible, says Schmied

Categories
Politics

The education ministry has said it could imagine upping charges for truancy. People’s Party (ÖVP) Integration Secretary Sebastian Kurz announced yesterday (Mon) the families of pupils who were caught skipping lessons should face higher penalties. Kurz told radio Ö1 that the maximum charge of 220 Euros was too low in his opinion. He claimed that […]

EU must avoid Greek bankruptcy, says BA boss

Categories
Finance

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 […]

Anger about envisaged parliament reduction

Categories
Politics

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 […]