Category: Austrian News

The new Archbishop of Vienna, Josef Grünwidl, expressed his gratitude and confidence in an interview with ORF presenter Marie-Claire Zimmermann on ZiB 2. He said he felt “a lot of momentum” and considered it a gift to be able to take on this task. At the same time, he knows that not everyone is happy with his appointment. Nevertheless, he wants to carry out his duties “with passion and enthusiasm” and gradually settle into his new role. The extensive church services at St. Stephen’s Cathedral are “always very moving experiences”…

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Halloween: Police warn of property damage and disturbances of the peace. Prevention through dialogue is intended to prevent crimes and reports to the police. The police are warning against property damage and disturbances of the peace during the upcoming Halloween celebrations. In this tradition, children and young people go from house to house on the evening of October 31 and give residents the choice between a nasty trick or a sweet treat with the words “trick or treat.” Defacing or smearing houses or cars, damaging mailboxes, destroying garbage cans, but…

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WhatsApp scam: Police warn of new scam in Upper Austria. Perpetrators demand money transfers from hijacked contacts. Tips for protection and the latest information. There have been numerous warnings in recent months: fake police officers, the love scam, and crypto fraud. The police and consumer protection agencies can barely keep up—and now there is already the next nasty scam. Unknown perpetrators hijack the phone number of an existing contact and then send a message requesting an allegedly urgent money transfer. The Upper Austria State Criminal Police Office is sounding the…

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Scammers promise victims a supposed reimbursement of costs. Anyone who receives such a call should hang up immediately. If the phone rings and someone answers with the words, “Hello, this is ÖGK Cost Reimbursement. We need your IBAN and BIC so that we can carry out the transfer.” Then this is not a reason to rejoice but rather an attempt at fraud. Therefore, hang up. There has been a recent increase in fake calls and phishing emails in the name of Austrian Lotteries, the City of Vienna, and the Austrian…

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The travel booking platform Omio has used global weather data to list the Christmas markets in Europe where snow is most likely to fall. So if you’re looking for a white Christmas, you don’t have to travel all the way to the North Pole – some of Europe’s most charming cities offer you the chance to celebrate in the snow. In Austria in particular, you can look forward to snow-covered Christmas markets and festively decorated old towns. Snow guaranteed in Finland If you’re looking for a winter wonderland, Finland should…

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Price shock in November! Many things will become more expensive now that the heating season is starting, and many will feel the impact of the increased CO₂ tax and higher electricity costs (+33%). Fees have risen sharply—the e-card fee, which is due on November 15, 2025, has almost doubled to 25 euros! Other costs are also painful: since July 2025, fees for official documents such as passports and driver’s licenses in Austria have increased by almost 50% in some cases. Streaming is becoming more expensive—Spotify is raising its prices by…

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Cases of fraud are on the rise again in Austria. The police in Tyrol are warning of a current wave of telephone scams in which the perpetrators pretend to be police officers or detectives. By now, there is hardly an Austrian who has never received a fraudulent text message, phone call, or email. But the number of these scams currently in circulation is staggering, as the saying goes. Police warn of wave of calls Whether it’s “children who have lost their cell phones,” an urgent request to log in to…

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Every year on October 26, Austria marks its National Day—a public holiday that honors the country’s postwar rebirth as an independent, neutral nation. It’s a day filled with pride, remembrance, and reflection on how Austria redefined itself after World War II. The Roots: End of Occupation and Return to Independence After the war, Austria was divided into four zones of occupation, controlled by the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. For ten years, the country remained under Allied supervision, with Vienna itself split into sectors, much…

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On the occasion of Austria’s National Day, the Integration Fund has analyzed the city’s demographic structure and compared it with data from 2015, the year before the refugee crisis. Vienna has long been a melting pot of cultures, but in recent years, change has accelerated dramatically. No other federal state has transformed as much in the past decade. According to the latest brochure from the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF), “Bundesländer 2025” (“Federal States 2025”), as of January 1, 2025, around 829,800 residents of Vienna were born abroad—accounting for 40.9 percent…

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