Category: Austrian News

After years of discussion, the time has finally come: the GIS-Aus is coming, and instead, there will now be a household levy. The coalition is in agreement. The end of the GIS fee was already considered decided, but negotiations between the ÖVP and the Greens on the concrete design of the new budget levy were still going on until the very end. Instead of the GIS, the household tax will now be fixed. It must be paid by all four million households, regardless of whether they consume ORF or not.…

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Although the government had fixed a bonus for pensioners, those with small pensions were paid too little. This is now changing. On March 1, the federal government launched a new cash bonus – this time for the 1.8 million pensioners in the country. They were to receive a direct payment of up to 500 euros as emergency aid against the enormous price increases. The cost is part of the 2023 pension increase, which raised incomes on a socially graduated basis. For recipients of a compensatory allowance (minimum pension), this should…

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The temperature plunged by almost 20 degrees. Now it’s going to get uncomfortable once again! Meteorologists are predicting a significant drop in temperatures over the next few days. While almost summery 21 degrees were still measured in Linz on Thursday, it’s going steeply downhill in the next few days. On Friday, it starts; in the morning, some clouds move across the country, but it remains dry. Temperatures will once again become spring-like. At noon, it can be a very mild 14 to 20 degrees. The temperature will drop hourly in…

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On April 1, the rents of 376,000 households will rise by a hefty 8.6 percent. Nevertheless, a rent break is not coming. For weeks, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Greens had been negotiating about the rent break. Yesterday, the “compromise” was presented: The housing subsidy will be increased by 250 million euros, 25 million of which will go into the “housing umbrella” against delogations. The money does not flow automatically but must be applied for. According to ÖVP club leader Wöginger, the one-time payment will be about 200…

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The XBB.1.5 wave has reached the top. The numbers are dropping just in time for the start of spring, but a new variant is causing intensive care patients. Coronavirus variant outbreak as an omicron subvariant and covid-19 infectious influenza background as dangerous flu strain cases as a pandemic medical health risk concept with disease cells as a 3D rendering The highly contagious omicron variant XBB.1.5 has spread rapidly in Austria in recent weeks, dominating the infection scene with a share of more than 70 percent. But this means that the…

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The weather shows its friendly and mild side in the new week. At the beginning of the new week, a foothill of the Scandinavian low “Gerson” quickly moves off to the east. From the west, the high “Kali” gradually influences the Alpine region’s weather pattern. The weather thus calms down permanently. In addition, Austria moves into the forefield of a new, powerful low-pressure complex near the British Isles in the latest week. The current thus turns to the southwest, and significantly warmer air masses of Mediterranean origin are brought into…

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Spring plants are beginning to bloom one to two weeks earlier than the average in the past decades. This is because January and February were almost consistently too mild, explains Geosphere Austria (formerly ZAMG). Therefore, many plants’ development started significantly earlier than in an average year. For example, forsythia and dirndl are already blooming in many places at lower altitudes. The flowering of the apricot has also already begun, as in the Wachau, in the Vienna area and northern Burgenland around the Leithagebirge. “This means that the development of the…

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Vienna is the first destination in Austria to make it onto TIME Magazine’s list of “World’s Greatest Places.” Since 2018, TIME Magazine has been selecting a list of the “World’s Greatest Places.” This year, Vienna also made it to the top 50 destinations. What makes Vienna a top travel destination for TIME Magazine?In its citation, TIME Magazine praises Vienna as a “classical city, modernized” and highlights those developments that have made the federal capital the world’s most livable city in various rankings. These include, for example, bicycle and pedestrian friendliness,…

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The City of Vienna is on the lookout: 21,000 positions must be filled by 2030. For this reason, one starts now a large personnel offensive, including an advertising campaign, as mayor Michael Ludwig and personnel city councillor Jürgen Czernohorszky (both SPÖ) communicated on Friday. The fields of work, so it was assured, are various. Employees are being sought in social, technical or even digital areas.In total, the city employs around 67,000 people. For example, the City of Vienna is now organizing its job fair for the first time to fill…

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