It's so obvious: Of all people, Vienna's FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp was outraged last summer that a nine-member Syrian family receives 4,600 euros in minimum benefits per month. Of all people, he criticized during the municipal council election campaign that the city helps people "who have not worked a single day in Vienna." Of all people, he used the slogan "Reward the diligent instead of asylum millions" for his campaign. The man himself earns 11,318.40 euros per month, 14 times a year, even though he is merely a "non-executive city councilor," which means he has nothing to do in practice.
Can he be blamed for this? The question is wrongly posed: Can Syrian asylum beneficiaries be blamed for being generously supported? If anything, there is a systemic problem here. And if anything, an opposition representative like Nepp has the duty to denounce grievances such as the fact that the city of Vienna affords a total of five "non-executive city councilors" at the taxpayers' expense. This involves well over a million euros per year.
It is telling that Nepp does not address this, that he obviously has no problem with it. That he prefers to target ordinary people, such as those with an asylum background, to stir up sentiment.
The madness in Austria is how much money flows into politics. That even a Herbert Kickl has never demanded a reduction in party funding, although it is one of the highest in the world relative to the population. Or that especially the Freedom Party likes to appoint a "non-executive city councilor." Clearly: At least one of them is well taken care of. But it would also be honest to admit it.
In total, there are five "non-executive city councilors." So far, besides Nepp, these have included the two Turquoise members Karl Mahrer and Isabelle Jungnickel, as well as the two Greens Judith Pühringer and Peter Kraus. They participate in government meetings but have no influence on the decisions of the executive city councilors, who come from the SPÖ and Neos and hold the majority. Unlike an (executive) finance or health city councilor, they do not bear responsibility for a specific area. They are breakfast directors.
If anyone on the side of the SPÖ, ÖVP, Greens, Neos, or Freedom Party, who claim to care the most about taxpayers, really cared, this would have ended long ago. Then a constitutional amendment would be initiated today. Such an amendment would be necessary to abolish "non-executive city councilors." They are part of the proportional representation system, which mandates that all parties must be represented in municipal governments. In Vienna, this is implemented in such a way that opposition representatives are "non-executive," but royally paid, city councilors.
Johannes Huber runs the blog dieSubstanz.at – Analyses and Backgrounds on Politics
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.