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In addition to Finance Minister Gernot Blümel and Labor and Family Minister Christine Aschbacher (see image), Education Minister Heinz Faßmann (the three ÖVPs) appeared in front of the media on Saturday. The trio explained the immediate effects of the previously announced hard lockdown on their respective departments. Blümel will speak about the effects on the budget and will announce measures for those affected. Aschbacher will support you in this.
The declaration of the Minister of Education was also eagerly awaited. The (almost) complete closure of the school attracted much criticism in advance. Fassmann will introduce the Greens by one.
Finance Minister Gernot Blümel recalled previous grants and said Austria paid more money than other countries. Blümel announces that it will be possible to submit the new fixed cost request from Monday, November 23. With the start of this closure, there will be another measure for closed operations. Blümel talks about sales substitution.
To date, 30,000 applications have been submitted with a volume of 900 million euros. Most came from Vienna, the second more from Styria. Especially gastronomy is affected by this. Merchant sales must be offset by 20 to 60 percent. Applications should be able to be made again through FinanzOnline. You can find out exactly what business help looks like here.
Aschbacher: “It’s about everyone’s health”
The Minister for Family and Labor, Christine Aschbacher, said in her statement that no one facilitated the measures announced today. Appeal to the cohesion of society. Aschbacher explains that he is in an exceptional situation. Regarding the concrete measures, he explains: The main objective is to support families and workers “as best as possible.”
1. Securing jobs through short-time work
You should keep employees on the job. Therefore, the measure stabilizes income and career. Affected companies can submit applications online, also retroactively, so that employees can be retained. “Use Corona’s cut-time job,” Aschbacher appeals.
2. In-app support at home office
Anyone who works from home is insured against accidents until the end of March and continues to receive the commuter allowance, Aschbacher explains two measures that benefit employees.
3. Compatibility
Working parents are supported by caring for children in schools and kindergartens, Aschbacher explains. Working parents are entitled to a special childcare leave of up to four weeks. This can also be used flexibly and for half a day, Aschbacher announced. In the future, employers will get 100 percent of the expenses for special care time reimbursed by the public sector, in order to create incentives for employers.
Faßmann: “Our goal was open schools”
“We have to take note of the fact that there is an overriding principle that health takes priority,” says Faßmann, explaining the reasons for the closure of a school, which he was actually against. Schools are not a virus handler, but they are not Corona free either. “Let’s limit the crisis and keep a cool head,” Faßmann said. The following measures apply:
Lower grades and elementary schools move on to distance learning. This applies from Tuesday (November 17), Monday should serve as the transition day. On Monday, parents should announce if they need school care for their children. In addition to supervision, there should also be tutoring at the school. In order for the educational gap not to diverge, learning support must be possible, for example, for those children who do not have IT end devices and therefore do not have the possibility of e-learning.
“We will use the time for distance learning better than in spring,” Faßmann believes in a better infrastructure. The change affects almost three weeks or 14 school days. The more severe the blockage, the faster the infection rates fall. To avoid a state of limbo, it is important that Faßmann points to December 7 as the day of the reboot.
