Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

SCHOOLS

Today in Austria: A round up of the latest news on Monday

Find out what's going on in Austria with the Local's short roundup of today's news.

Published: 26 April 2021 09:01 CEST
Woman being vaccinated
JOE KLAMAR / AFP

Company doctors could begin giving vaccinations in May 

Company doctors – i.e. in-house doctors serving one or a handful of companies or businesses – should start giving vaccines from the beginning of May as well as vaccination centres and GPs.

The Austrian vaccination plan is back on track thanks to the early Biontech/Pfizer delivery, according to the Ministry of Health’s vaccine coordinator Katharina Reich, Der Standard newspaper reports. 

More than two million doses have been administered so far.

The vaccination of the over 65-year-olds has already been completed in many federal states, in May the over 50-year-olds will have their turn and by the end of June everyone should receive a vaccination who wants one.

Vienna opening plan hangs in the balance

It is still undecided whether Vienna will open up its museums and retail when its current lockdown expires on 2nd May, broadcaster ORF reports.

A spokesman for the Mayor of Vienna Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) confirmed this yesterday in response to an APA request.

A decision will made on Tuesday. It is also unclear if Vienna will open its restaurants and hospitality when Austria opens up its gastronomy, culture, tourism and sport on 19th May. 

READ MORE: Austria to relax most coronavirus measures on May 19th

Experts concerned about plan to open up Austria in May 

Experts are concerned about Austria’s plans to open up in mid May, Der Standard newspaper reports. Virologist  Dorothee von Laer  believes warmer weather and increased vaccination could allow openings.

However, she warns against unlocking in regions such as Tyrol where a virus mutation is circulating.

Microbiologist Michael Wagner thinks the opening plan is “too risky”, it is reported. APA reports the traffic light commission chairman Ulrich Herzog said that the current situation shows parallels to that in autumn, when the number of infections subsequently increased explosively. 

One million people tested for coronavirus with gargle tests

Around one million people have been tested for coronavirus using Vienna’s gargle tests according to Der Standard newspaper. Of these, 0.56 percent were positive, meaning 5,748 Covid infections were detected.

Seven day incidence at 182

The seven day incidence, or number of coronavirus infections per 100,000 people is is 182.

Vorarlberg currently has the highest incidence (240.2), followed by Vienna (214.0). The value is lowest in Burgenland (99.9) and Lower Austria (126.3), according to broadcaster ORF. 

Children return to school in Vienna and Lower Austria

All schoolchildren are returning to schools in Vienna and Lower Austria today, broadcaster ORF reports. Until May 16, elementary schools will receive face to face classes, while children will be taught in shifts at middle schools, special schools, AHS, vocational schools and vocational schools – with the exception of those in the final year of school. 

Austria 16th for start up financing in Europe

Ernst and Young data shows Austria ranked 16th in start-up financing in Europe in 2020, the Wiener Zeitung newspaper reports.

The total amount of the publicly known financing rose in from €183 to €212 million. The crypto trading platform Bitpanda received the most funding in Austria, €45.6 million, followed by the construction app company Planradar with €30 million euros and the marketing data start-up Adverity with €26.3 million. 

Climate law could mean automatic tax increases

A draft for the climate protection law planned by the ÖVP and the Greens provides for automatic tax increases should CO2 emissions deviate from the climate targets set, Die Presse newspaper reports,  picking up on reporting originally in the Krone newspaper.

Environment Minister Gewessler confirmed on Sunday in the ORF “press hour” that this was a proposal from her department to prevent climate targets from being missed again as in the past. Gewessler said if the government did not act it could cost €9 billion by 2030. 

More investment in sustainable funds

The Austrian fund volume of sustainable investment funds increased in the first quarter by around €2.7 billion to €20.1 billion euros Die Presse newspaper reports.

The net inflows of the sustainable investment funds amounted to around €1.8 billion.

Die Presse newspaper argues the sustainability trend is also an argument for the industry to make actively managed funds attractive to investors, because active funds generally generate more money for the banks than passive ETFs, which only track an index.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

VIENNA

Vienna Festival director Milo Rau hits back at anti-Semitism accusations

One of the latest events in Europe to be hit with accusations of anti-Semitism, the Vienna Festival kicks off Friday, with its new director, Milo Rau, urging that places of culture be kept free of the "antagonism" of the Israel-Hamas war while still tackling difficult issues.

Published: 17 May 2024 14:48 CEST
Vienna Festival director Milo Rau hits back at anti-Semitism accusations

As the conflict in Gaza sharply polarises opinion, “we must be inflexible” in defending the free exchange of ideas and opinions, the acclaimed Swiss director told AFP in an interview this week.

“I’m not going to take a step aside… If we let the antagonism of the war and of our society seep into our cultural and academic institutions, we will have completely lost,” said the 47-year-old, who will inaugurate the Wiener Festwochen, a festival of theatre, concerts, opera, film and lectures that runs until June 23rd in the Austrian capital and that has taken on a more political turn under his tenure.

The Swiss director has made his name as a provocateur, whether travelling to Moscow to stage a re-enactment of the trial of Russian protest punk band Pussy Riot, using children to play out the story of notorious Belgian paedophile Marc Dutroux, or trying to recruit Islamic State jihadists as actors.

Completely ridiculous 

The Vienna Festival has angered Austria’s conservative-led government — which is close to Israel — by inviting Greek former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and French Nobel Prize winner for literature Annie Ernaux, both considered too critical of Israel.

A speech ahead of the festival on Judenplatz (Jews’ Square) by Israeli-German philosopher Omri Boehm — who has called for replacing Israel with a bi-national state for Arabs and Jews —  also made noise.

“Who will be left to invite?  Every day, there are around ten articles accusing us of being anti-Semitic, saying that our flag looks like the Palestinian flag, completely ridiculous things,” Rau said, as he worked from a giant bed which has been especially designed by art students and installed at the festival office.

Hamas’ bloody October 7th assault on southern Israel and the devastating Israeli response have stoked existing rancour over the Middle East conflict between two diametrically opposed camps in Europe.

In this climate, “listening to the other side is already treachery,” lamented the artistic director.

“Wars begin in this impossibility of listening, and I find it sad that we Europeans are repeating war at our level,” he said.

As head of also the NTGent theatre in the Belgian city of Ghent, he adds his time currently “is divided between a pro-Palestinian country and a pro-Israeli country,” or between “colonial guilt” in Belgium and “genocide guilt” in Austria, Adolf Hitler’s birthplace.

Institutional revolution

The “Free Republic of Vienna” will be proclaimed on Friday as this year’s Vienna Festival celebrates. according to Rau, “a second modernism, democratic, open to the world” in the city of the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, and artist and symbolist master Gustav Klimt.

Some 50,000 people are expected to attend the opening ceremony on the square in front of Vienna’s majestic neo-Gothic town hall.

With Rau describing it as an “institutional revolution” and unlike any other festival in Europe, the republic has its own anthem, its own flag and a council made up of Viennese citizens, as well as honorary members, including Varoufakis and Ernaux, who will participate virtually in the debates.

The republic will also have show trials — with real lawyers, judges and politicians participating — on three weekends.

Though there won’t be any verdicts, Rau himself will be in the dock to embody “the elitist art system”, followed by the republic of Austria and finally by the anti-immigrant far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), which leads polls in the Alpine EU member ahead of September national elections.

SHOW COMMENTS