SPÖ calls for faster implementation of corona vaccines – Coronavirus Vienna

The SPÖ is disappointed with the management of the turquoise green Crown crisis and concerned about half a million unemployed. The government had done little to curb crown-related unemployment, club deputy chief Jörg Leichtfried and social spokesman Josef Muchitsch confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday.

Also from a medical point of view, the government was responsible for numerous failures. According to Leichtfried, Austria was too slow to vaccinate.

Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) could thank the opposition who, with their lock on the Federal Council, brought down the planned freestyle and thus avoided pre-programmed chaos, Leichtfried said. “I’m afraid the vaccine won’t work either.” While a million people have already been vaccinated in Israel, there are only a million photos of the chancellor vaccinating in Austria. But only a few thousand were vaccinated.

“This vaccination chaos is completely incomprehensible.” The Ministry of Health does not even know how many people have already been vaccinated, the deputy head of the club was outraged. “Please start vaccinating. It has to be faster,” he urged the government to speed up.

From the perspective of the SPÖ, the situation on the labor market is dramatic. And the Social Democrats fear that those who work hard will have to pay the cost of the crisis and not those who have benefited from the crisis. Therefore, Leichtfried reiterated the SPÖ’s call for a millionaire tax and higher taxes for the online giants.

Social spokesman Muchitsch warned that the duration of unemployment is getting longer. 117,000 people are unemployed for more than twelve months. “I am disappointed with the government’s labor market policy. We have always tried to make sensible proposals, but the government did not respond,” Muchitsch said.

“Nobody in the government can imagine what it is like to live with an average of 34.40 euros a day in unemployment benefits.” The increase in unemployment benefits, which the SPÖ had requested repeatedly, was rejected by the government. Nor were all the proposals to stimulate the economy accepted. Muchitsch specifically criticized the fact that turquoise green acts on the principle of the watering can rather than specifically promoting businesses.

The government is talking about closing ranks, but it is not living on common ground. “I hope that we can find solutions together, as is happening in other countries, and that the government’s populism comes to an end,” Muchitsch said.