Leitner calls for CEO pay cut

Categories
Business

A leading Social Democrat (SPÖ) has suggested business bosses should not earn more than the president. Josef Leitner, who heads the SPÖ’s branch in the province of Upper Austria, said today (Thurs) CEOs of companies in which the state holds stakes could have their wages cut owing to the volatile economic climate. The left-winger argued […]

Greece must be strengthened, Faymann warns

Categories
Politics

Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Werner Faymann has claimed Austria would be worse off if the European Union (EU) allowed Greece to go bust. The Social Democrat once more defended the financial support for the debt-stricken Eurozone member in a TV interview yesterday (Sun). Faymann pointed out Austria was a country focusing on exports and must […]

Strache – Le Pen meeting hit by Hitler controversy

Categories
Politics

A leading right-winger from Austria has caused a stir by accusing a journalist from his home country of “fouling his own nest” by posing a question about Adolf Hitler in Strasbourg, France.Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache travelled to the city to meet French politician Marie Le Pen, head of the Front National (FN) party, […]

Right-winger resigns over ‘Blood and Honour’ tattoo

Categories
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) […]

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

Categories
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, […]

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 […]

Faymann defends aid for Greece

Categories
Politics

Freedom Party (FPÖ) chief Heinz-Christian Strache accused the government of “dispossessing” Austrians of their assets and savings by supporting ailing Eurozone member Greece.The right-winger said in the federal parliament in Vienna yesterday (Tues) the coalition of Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the People’s Party (ÖVP) must stop offering any further support to the struggling Southern European […]

FPÖ-internal feud hots up as Strache stays away from WWII commemoration

Categories
Politics

A far-right member of the European Parliament (MEP) has called on Freedom Party (FPÖ) boss Heinz-Christian Strache not to deny the roots of his party.FPÖ MEP Andreas Mölzer told the Kurier newspaper today (Weds) Strache “must not be afraid” of pictures showing him with members of controversial student fraternities. Several FPÖ members of the Austrian […]

Right-wingers angered by ‘monarchist’ Fischer

Categories
Politics

The Freedom Party (FPÖ) has questioned Federal President Heinz Fischer’s approach to democracy over controversial statements in a recent interview.Fischer – a former Social Democratic (SPÖ) president of the federal parliament and science minister – told the Kurier newspaper some days ago that he would not have to inaugurate FPÖ boss Heinz-Christian Strache as federal […]