At the National Council meeting next Wednesday, the Freedom Party will submit a proposal for a zero wage round for the salaries of federal and state politicians as well as top managers of companies with public participation for 2025, as FPÖ federal party chairman Club Chairman NAbg. Herbert Kickl announced today: “In view of the catastrophic situation into which our homeland has been driven by the system parties, a sign of solidarity with the Austrians in the form of a zero wage round for politicians and state managers is the need of the hour and of justice. This is not about a disdain for political offices or mandates, but rather a measure with a symbolic effect in the spirit of closing the gap between the population and the political class, which is necessary! In times of recession, it is inappropriate for a political system to patronize itself with salary increases. The black-red-pink loser traffic light negotiators Nehammer, Babler and Meinl-Reisinger as well as the Greens, who are still stuck in the ministerial chairs, have apparently not yet come up with the idea of comprehensively suspending politicians’ salary increases. That’s hardly surprising, because they only care about themselves and maintaining their power.”
People would continue to suffer from extreme inflation, a wave of insolvencies of which 3,800 companies had already fallen victim by the end of November this year, and dramatically rising unemployment. “In addition to this unprecedented decline in the economy and people’s prosperity, the black-green federal government is also responsible for a budget hole of which no one knows whether it amounts to thirty, forty or perhaps even fifty billion euros. In times of these crises, there is no time and no euro to give a salary increase to those who already earn so much that the increase in prices hardly has a negative impact on their standard of living, in contrast to that of the citizens,” said Kickl. The zero wage round should apply equally to all politicians up to the level of state parliament members.
In addition to a zero wage round, the FPÖ federal party chairman also called for a reform towards a nationwide uniform regulation of politicians’ salaries and their adjustments. “The current system is a patchwork carpet from the federal government to the nine federal states and is no longer manageable for citizens and therefore taxpayers. Treating federal politicians and state politicians and, moreover, state politicians among themselves differently depending on where they live is objectively incomprehensible. Due to different regulations and gradations in recent years, the entire originally uniform structure has been thrown into disarray. New adjustments are based on different base amounts, etc. There is therefore a need for systematic standardization in terms of increases or non-increases, ideally based on objective economic parameters, such as the development of the average equivalent income of Austrians: Only if it increases will politicians’ salaries also be increased. A first step can be taken in the upcoming National Council meeting if the other parties agree to our free motion!” Kickl continued.
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