The Yugosphere: Not Just Balkan Nostalgia
It is Saturday night. Boys in tight T-shirts and close-cut military hairstyles throw around boisterous jokes, encouraged by shots of schnapps they have just taken. Tipsy girls in miniskirts teeter under an onslaught of laughter. This is a common scene anywhere in the city on any given Saturday night. Tonight, however, we are on Ottakringer [...]
Company bankruptcy incurs loss of child benefits
Despite a unanimous government decision to tighten the criteria for the income-based child benefit (einkommensabhängiges Kindergeld) as of 2012, Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek, Social Democratic Minister for Women’s Affairs, now demands a revision. The Minister refers to numerous cases of pregnant women, who were not able to be employed for at least six months before maternity leave [...]
Draining the ‘Kellernazi’ Swamp
The Presseclub Concordia was packed when Hans-Henning Scharsach presented his new book Strache: Im braunen Sumpf (Strache: In the Brown-Shirt Swamp). Members of the Green Party were present, as well as many NGO representatives and civil society activists, as he talked about the roots of the now-popular FPÖ party leader. In 14 chapters, written over [...]
Chair of Parliamentary Corruption Enquiry resigns
The head of an Austrian parliamentary enquiry investigating corruption, the Green Party MP Gabriela Moser, resigned on 18 Sept., following a row with the government over investigating Social Democratic Chancellor Werner Faymann. This has caused a deadlock in the inquiry. Faymann and a top aide are being questioned about claims that they illegally pressured the [...]
Austria gets AAA despite rise in unemployment
The U.S.-based rating agency Moody’s has confirmed Austria’s AAA rating, despite an overall negative economic outlook for Europe. The triple-A verdict is based on Austrian unemployment being the lowest in the European Union, and the overall strength of its economy, retaining strong growth rates compared with most of its European counterparts. However, Austria is also [...]
The Third Runway: Toxic on Take-Off
If Madeleine Petrovic has her way, there will be no third runway built at the Vienna International Airport (VIA). “It’s an ecological disaster and economic adventure with an uncertain outcome,” said Petrovic, spokesperson of the Greens of Lower Austria, capturing the mood of the members of the Platform of Independent NGOs Against the Proposed Construction [...]
’This is Not Heidi Land’
“Everything that made the mountains charismatic has been largely taken away from us by people from the city,” says Reinhold Messner, as he glares at me from behind an enviably thick fringe of hair, as if I was responsible for this alleged outrage. Messner is known to be an uncomfortable interviewee and today, as he [...]
Donauinsel goes WiFi
As of mid-September, visitors to the Donauinsel have access to free wireless Internet at selected hotspots between the underground lines U1 and U6. The construction work began in August, and it is part of enhanced services at Vienna’s largest recreational area. City authorities have also opened a new service centre, called Insel-Info, located about 350 [...]
Playing For Time: A Busker in Vienna
At the intersection of Kärntner Straße and Krugerstraße, an accordionist jauntily plays a Brahms Hungarian Dance, looking distractedly at the passersby. With his brown curls, moustache and soul-patch, he has all the scruffy sophistication of a character out of Dumas. An American tourist suddenly slows down and calls out, mockingly, “Stop. Just stop.” For a [...]
