About the SPÖ Party Manifesto
The 46-page SPÖ manifesto focuses on health, work, education, infrastructure and protecting the climate – but also contains some bold policy proposals.
Austria’s Social Democratic SPÖ, under the leadership of Pamela Rendi-Wagner, already presented their program in July, but many demands are only now reaching the discussion circles of the republic. The 46-page SPÖ manifesto focuses on health, work, education, infrastructure and protecting the climate – but also contains some bold policy proposals.
To start with, the Social Democrats want to prolong Aktion 20,000, a measure introduced by former SPÖ chancellor Christian Kern to help older workers reintegrate into the labor market that had been axed by ÖVP chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his center-right government. The SPÖ also wants to establish a “tax-financed guaranteed nursing care fund,” emphasizing that all Austrians should get the same quality of care, no matter if they can afford private insurance or not.
It is in the longer run that the party shows the biggest ambitions. The SPÖ aims to transform the tax system in an ecological way by introducing Europe-wide taxes on CO2 and kerosene. The Social Democrats also want new taxes on millionaires and large inheritances (over €1 million). Workers should get the right to a four-day week, six weeks of paid holidays after 25 years of employment, and an effective minimum wage of €1,700 net for full-time work, fourteen times a year (up from an effective floor of €1,500 net at the moment).
On education, the SPÖ banks on continuity, doubling down on its long-held views of establishing a common school for 10-14-year-olds – currently, schoolchildren in Austria are separated into middle schools and grammar schools at age 10. The party also wants 2,500 more policemen and policewomen on the streets
Finally, to fight climate change, the party takes inspiration from the Wiener Linien’s €365 annual pass and aims to introduce a mobility pass for public transport all across Austria, including trains, for €3 a day (or €1.095 a year).
