Today in Austria: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday
Find out what's going on in Austria on Tuesday with The Local's short roundup of today's news.
Dispute in coalition over corona laws
There continues to be a dispute about easing the corona rules and this is dividing Austria’s governing coalition and the federal states, Der Standard newspaper reports.
On Friday, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that change distance regulations and curfew restrictions. Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein then reminded the Chancellor that the coalition had agreed on a different, joint, approach and had planned first to meet with the leaders of the federal states and experts the following Friday.
Chancellor Kurz then announced the next opening steps for June 17th on Monday. Health Minister Mückstein in turn gave an interview to the ZiB2 programme saying there could be an easing of the mask requirement outside on June 10th. The newspaper reports Green party leader Johannes Rauch believes the debate is being staged by the ÖVP to divert attention from the Chancellor’s impending indictment.
READ MORE: Austrian Chancellor Kurz sees image dented as he faces investigations
Seven day incidence rate at 49
According to the AGES database the seven-day incidence, or the number of new infections with the coronavirus in the past seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, is 49. In all federal states, the number is now well below 100 - with Vorarlberg (75.8) and Burgenland (28.2) having the highest and lowest values, respectively.
Vaccination appointments promised for Upper Austria
Anyone who has registered for a vaccination by noon today in Upper Austria should receive an email by tomorrow to book an appointment, broadcaster ORF reports. So far, almost 540,000 people in Upper Austria have been vaccinated.
Children aged 12 and over will soon be eligible for vaccination
The number of people who can be vaccinated in Austria is likely to increase in the coming days because the European Medicines Agency will soon authorise the Biontech vaccination for children aged 12 to 15, according to Der Standard newspaper. According to the Ministry of Health, around 400,000 young people will soon be eligible.
Kurz criticises behaviour of Belarus
Chancellor Kurz said the behavior of Belarus was "absolutely unacceptable and must be strongly rejected", after the country sent a fighter jet to force a Ryanair flight travelling between Athens and Vilnius to land, claiming there was a bomb threat. Police then arrested journalist and activist Roman Protasevich along with his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.
Billions lost due to pandemic
Calculations by the think tank Agenda Austria finds there will be a loss of prosperity of around €140 billion euros in Austria up to 2024, according to the Wiener Zeitung newspaper. Once state aid to companies is taken into account, this increases to €175 billion. Even in 2024, domestic economic output will be €20 billion lower than it would have otherwise been.
Domestic customs collected €6.73 in 2020
Domestic customs collected €6.73 billion in 2020 despite travel restrictions, the Wiener Zeitung newspaper reports. In the first quarter of 2021 it was €1.59 billion. It reports the number of customs clearances increased by around a quarter in the first quarter of 2021 as a result of Brexit. Revenue of €3.78 billion was made up of mineral oil taxes in 2020 and around €1.99 billion were collected through tobacco tax.
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Dispute in coalition over corona laws
There continues to be a dispute about easing the corona rules and this is dividing Austria’s governing coalition and the federal states, Der Standard newspaper reports.
On Friday, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that change distance regulations and curfew restrictions. Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein then reminded the Chancellor that the coalition had agreed on a different, joint, approach and had planned first to meet with the leaders of the federal states and experts the following Friday.
Chancellor Kurz then announced the next opening steps for June 17th on Monday. Health Minister Mückstein in turn gave an interview to the ZiB2 programme saying there could be an easing of the mask requirement outside on June 10th. The newspaper reports Green party leader Johannes Rauch believes the debate is being staged by the ÖVP to divert attention from the Chancellor’s impending indictment.
READ MORE: Austrian Chancellor Kurz sees image dented as he faces investigations
Seven day incidence rate at 49
According to the AGES database the seven-day incidence, or the number of new infections with the coronavirus in the past seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, is 49. In all federal states, the number is now well below 100 - with Vorarlberg (75.8) and Burgenland (28.2) having the highest and lowest values, respectively.
Vaccination appointments promised for Upper Austria
Anyone who has registered for a vaccination by noon today in Upper Austria should receive an email by tomorrow to book an appointment, broadcaster ORF reports. So far, almost 540,000 people in Upper Austria have been vaccinated.
Children aged 12 and over will soon be eligible for vaccination
The number of people who can be vaccinated in Austria is likely to increase in the coming days because the European Medicines Agency will soon authorise the Biontech vaccination for children aged 12 to 15, according to Der Standard newspaper. According to the Ministry of Health, around 400,000 young people will soon be eligible.
Kurz criticises behaviour of Belarus
Chancellor Kurz said the behavior of Belarus was "absolutely unacceptable and must be strongly rejected", after the country sent a fighter jet to force a Ryanair flight travelling between Athens and Vilnius to land, claiming there was a bomb threat. Police then arrested journalist and activist Roman Protasevich along with his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.
Billions lost due to pandemic
Calculations by the think tank Agenda Austria finds there will be a loss of prosperity of around €140 billion euros in Austria up to 2024, according to the Wiener Zeitung newspaper. Once state aid to companies is taken into account, this increases to €175 billion. Even in 2024, domestic economic output will be €20 billion lower than it would have otherwise been.
Domestic customs collected €6.73 in 2020
Domestic customs collected €6.73 billion in 2020 despite travel restrictions, the Wiener Zeitung newspaper reports. In the first quarter of 2021 it was €1.59 billion. It reports the number of customs clearances increased by around a quarter in the first quarter of 2021 as a result of Brexit. Revenue of €3.78 billion was made up of mineral oil taxes in 2020 and around €1.99 billion were collected through tobacco tax.
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