Dwarf police concerns as ministry considers amendment

Categories
General News

Opposition leaders fear that the Austrian police force could become a “squadron of midgets” as the interior ministry plans to scrap a minimum body height rule for applicants.A spokesman for the federal interior ministry – which is headed by Johanna Mikl-Leitner of the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) – announced today (Tues) that the plan was […]

Unemployment rate remains low

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Business

Austria retained its reputation as Europe’s job sector model pupil.The country registered the lowest unemployment rate among all of the European Union’s (EU) 27 member states last month, it was announced today (Thurs). The federal labour ministry of Social Democrat (SPÖ) Rudolf Hundstorfer said that 221,369 people living in Austria had no job in May. […]

Hitler keeps losing honorary citizen titles

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Politics

Another town has stripped Adolf Hitler of his citizen of honour title, it emerged today (Tues).Wolfgang Mair, the People’s Party (ÖVP) mayor of Waidhofen an der Ybbs in Lower Austria, announced that the decision was made unanimously by all Town Hall delegates yesterday. Mair added that all of the town’s councillors wanted to disassociate themselves […]

Right-winger resigns over ‘Blood and Honour’ tattoo

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Politics

A right-wing politician has stepped down after a dispute considering a tattoo.Carinthian Freedom Party (FPK) Councillor Gerry Leitmann announced today (Tues) he informed Franz Felsberger, the Social Democratic (SPÖ) mayor of Ebenthal, Carinthia, about his decision to resign yesterday.Leitmann came under fire by political rivals for a tattoo saying “Blut und Ehre” (Blood and Honour) […]

Fritzl town’s Hitler honour annulment finds followers

Categories
Politics

Amstetten’s decision to strip Adolf Hitler of his honorary citizenship has triggered a certain sense of nervousness among politicians across the country.The Lower Austrian town – which gained unwanted fame for being the location of the ‘Fritzl incest horror house’ – revoked the honour earlier this week, 66 years after the Austrian-born Nazi dictator’s suicide. […]

Islamophobic shooter game triggers trial

Categories
Politics

A right-wing politician could be jailed for two years over a controversial computer game.Styrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) chief Gerhard Kurzmann will be in court later this year for putting “Moschee ba ba” (Bye, bye mosque) online ahead of last year’s provincial election, it was announced today (Thurs). Prosecutors in Graz accuse the councillor of agitation […]

Häupl wants government to be more bullish towards ‘amateur’ Strache

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Politics

Vienna’s Social Democratic (SPÖ) Mayor Michael Häupl has called on the federal government to show more courage in defying the aggressive campaigning of Freedom Party (FPÖ) chairman Heinz-Christian Strache.Häupl told the Kurier newspaper today (Weds): “The government has to do better and more about communicating its achievements such as the battling of the financial crisis, […]

Hitler no longer Amstetten citizen of honour

Categories
General News

A town in Lower Austria has stripped Adolf Hitler of his honorary citizenship – 66 years after the Third Reich leader’s death.Hitler – who was born in Braunau, Upper Austria – committed suicide when the World War Two (WWII) defeat of Germany became imminent in April 1945. Now Amstetten Town Hall delegates dispossessed Hitler of […]

Right-wingers at odds over option to rule

Categories
Politics

A severe party-internal rift is building up in the Freedom Party (FPÖ) after a far-right opinion leader questioned the party’s ability to rule.FPÖ Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Andreas Mölzer said in his internet blog he wondered “whether we will be able to give answers, create new concepts and carry out real reforms for […]

Lack of reforms ‘will impoverish middle class’

Categories
Politics

Austria’s middle class will impoverish if the country’s leaders fail to make any progress in reforming its bureaucratic, healthcare and pensions system, an opposition party chief has claimed.Josef Bucher, who heads the right-wing Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), told the Die Presse newspaper today (Fri): “If we keep carrying on this way, it […]