SPÖ-Holzleitner on poverty figures: “Government failure expressed in numbers!” – 2024-05-01 14:58:51

Government is doubling child poverty instead of halving it – SPÖ continues to support rent controls, maintenance guarantees and legal entitlement to an educational place

Vienna (OTS/SK) – The deputy SPÖ club leader Eva-Maria Holzleitner comments on the poverty figures presented today (EU-SILC): “In its program, the black-green federal government has made it a priority to halve child poverty in Austria. What is happening is the exact opposite: today more than twice as many children and young people live in absolute poverty than a year ago.” ****

Austria has had the highest inflation in Western Europe for over 14 months. The consequences of the catastrophic mismanagement of turquoise and green are now becoming more dramatic. “Every child who has to grow up in poverty is further evidence of the failed policies of the ÖVP and the Greens. The data published today is the failure of the federal government expressed in numbers,” said Holzleitner. Single-parent households are particularly affected, with one in two of them now at risk of poverty or exclusion. “This data must be a wake-up call for the government, an immediate change of direction is needed. Suggestions with which we can immediately remedy the situation have been on the table for a long time. “In order to implement this, we need the federal government,” Holzleitner points out the SPÖ’s existing measures to combat inflation, such as freezing rents until 2026, reducing VAT on basic foodstuffs and the maintenance guarantee.

An important point for the long-term fight against poverty is also access to good education for all children and the opportunity for parents to work full-time. “We know that mothers in particular suffer when they cannot find childcare for their children that is compatible with a full-time job. The consequences are involuntary part-time work, dependency in relationships and ultimately poverty in old age. As long as we don’t remedy this through a legal right to a child’s education place, we are de facto letting these women and their families down,” concludes Holzleitner. (End) ts/pok

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