After the Chancellor’s controversial video: Debate on poverty in Austria

class=”sc-29f61514-0 icZBHN”>

Achievements must be worthwhile and people also have personal responsibility, ÖVP Secretary General Christian Stocker said in Vienna on Friday. He responded to criticism from the opposition and social associations over a video in which Nehammer spoke to ÖVP officials about, among other things, the issue of hot meals for children from poor backgrounds.

«Do you know what the cheapest hot meal in Austria is? It is not healthy, but it is cheap: a hamburger at McDonald’s,” Nehammer said in the video, which was recorded at the end of July and appeared online this week. At the time, the Chancellor was also critical of his fellow party members about the high percentage of part-time work in Austria. Critics regarded the statements as cynical.

“We are anything but devoid of empathy,” Stocker responded. Austria has one of the best social systems and one of the lowest poverty rates in the world at 2.3 percent, he said. The ÖVP’s social policy has managed to keep the poverty rate stable, despite all the new problems. One in four people who work part-time do so voluntarily and are not forced to do so by, for example, care responsibilities. That’s why he has to live with less income in the short and long term, Stocker says.

Nehammer also defended his actions that appeared online. On the short message service

The ÖVP suggested on Friday that the opposition party SPÖ could have something to do with the publication of the video, which was posted online shortly after the start of an ÖVP campaign under the motto “Faith in Austria.” The chancellor’s choice of words was “pointed” and “pointy” – as is usual in internal events, not only in the political field – but the content was in line with the ÖVP’s official line, Secretary General Stocker said.

(SDA)

Source: Blick