ÖVP focuses on core group as critics attack Kurz

Categories
Politics

New People’s Party (ÖVP) General Secretary Hannes Rauch has said his party must stop trying to meet a majority’s demands.The Tyrolean told the Kurier newspaper today (Thurs): “We have to leave the idea behind us that we have to satisfy 60 or 70 per cent. The ÖVP is a party with many members. We have […]

Neo-Nazi ringleader nabbed in Vienna

Categories
Politics

An infamous fascist has been put in custody as investigations against a disputed website continue.Gottfried Küssel was arrested yesterday evening (Mon), prosecutors confirmed this morning. The outspoken neo-Nazi is accused of cooperating with the people behind “Alpe-Donau”, a controversial discussion platform of neo-Nazis on the internet. The site was taken offline last month after state […]

Turkish to become final exam subject

Categories
General News

Students in Austria may soon be able to graduate in Turkish.The federal education ministry of Social Democrat (SPÖ) Claudia Schmied announced today (Tues) the language may become the 14th foreign language learners in the country can pick at their final exams. Turkish has been taught as an optional subject in many secondary modern schools which […]

Rivals reach for power as Pröll bound to rehab

Categories
Politics

Austria’s second-strongest political party may get a new leader, according to press.Several newspapers are speculating that the board of the People’s Party (ÖVP) has started to negotiate who could follow Josef Pröll as chairman, finance minister and vice chancellor.The former environment minister was airlifted to a clinic in Innsbruck after experiencing breathing difficulties during a […]

Sex ad leaves right-wingers red-faced

Categories
Politics

A right-wing party’s youth organisation has vowed to review the organisation of its homepage after a banner advertised erotic contacts and a controversial computer game.The Vorarlberg branch of the Freedom Party’s (FPÖ) youth organisation RFJ confirmed today (Weds) that it cancelled the contract with an internet advertising company after a large banner which appeared on […]

USA set to shut neo-Nazi website

Categories
Politics

An infamous neo-Nazi homepage may go offline soon, it has emerged.Viennese newspapers report today (Weds) that Austrian prosecutors came to an agreement with authorities in the United States over shutting down the “Alpe-Donau” website.Austrian Green Party officials have pointed out for months that Austrian neo-Nazis are frequently leaving fascist and racist statements on the internet […]

Hofer attacks ‘nuclear power lobbyist’ Schüssel

Categories
Politics

Freedom Party (FPÖ) chiefs have turned their guns on People’s Party (ÖVP) officials in the wake of detonations at a nuclear power plant in Japan.FPÖ deputy chairman Norbert Hofer said today (Tues) former ÖVP Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel must make a decision over whether he wanted to be a “lobbyist for the nuclear power industry or […]

Widespread fear of African riots’ impact on Europe

Categories
Politics

A majority of Austrians think the turmoil in North Africa and the Arab region will influence the political and economic situation in Europe.Research group Market, which interviewed more than 400 Austrians, said today (Thurs), 76 per cent expected the developments in Libya and other countries to affect current circumstances in Europe.While many Austrians reportedly brace […]

Coalition cuts back travel costs

Categories
Politics

The Austrian government has reduced its travel expenses.A parliamentary enquiry by the Freedom Party (FPÖ) showed yesterday (Thurs) that the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the People’s Party (ÖVP) spent 2.2 million Euros on 220 trips abroad last year, less than in 2004 and 2008. Figures for 2009 have not been disclosed since no parliamentary faction […]

Lecturer fined for calling Koran ‘evil’

Categories
Politics

An Islam-criticising lecturer has been fined for vilification of religious theories.Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff was in court yesterday (Tues) for calling Islam “hostile” and the Koran “evil” in a seminar held in a Viennese hotel in 2009.An ongoing debate about the Austrian system of subsidising party academies was fuelled when it emerged that the event – which […]