160 Ideas for Less Bureaucracy in Austria

State Secretary Josef Schellhorn (NEOS) has presented the coalition partners with 160 proposals for deregulation and debureaucratization. Among the many small individual measures, which are now being discussed with ÖVP and SPÖ, according to "Kleine Zeitung," are things like extended opening hours for self-service stores, an increase in the turnover threshold for the cash register obligation, an extension of the inspection intervals for cars, or the introduction of a central wage reporting office.

Measures for Companies and Administration

To make work easier for companies, NEOS wants numerous documentation obligations to be completely abolished or at least simplified, retention obligations for business documents and invoices to apply only digitally, and the annual declaration for VAT to be eliminated. Publications of companies and annual financial statements should only occur in the edict file - and no longer as before also in the Wiener Zeitung. Multiple reports to various offices and authorities such as Statistics Austria should be eliminated by creating digital interfaces.

Cabinet Presentation Planned for Early December

The pink State Secretary also wants to achieve smaller reliefs for citizens in administrative procedures, for example by not requiring original documents to be presented every time when applying for a new passport if they are already digitally available to the authorities. The Public Employment Service (AMS) and social offices should unify their calculation models for their services, ideally leading to a joint payment of unemployment benefits and supplementary social assistance.

Schellhorn had actually announced in an APA interview in the summer that he wanted to present initial deregulation measures in the form of legislative changes as early as September or October. Since this schedule was not met, a cabinet presentation is now planned for early December. Since the end of October, Schellhorn's office for debureaucratization and deregulation concerns (SEDA), located in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has also been collecting suggestions from citizens for administrative simplification on a website. According to "Kleine," 2,500 submissions have been received since then.

Greens Criticize Proposals as Arbitrary and Vague

The Greens reacted with criticism to the 160 deregulation proposals via press release: They are arbitrary and not very concrete. Economic spokesperson Elisabeth Götze said: "Anyone expecting concrete and timely measures here will of course be disappointed." She also criticized the lack of essential deregulation approaches: "Where is the relief for companies?" Götze asked, pointing to "billion-dollar reserves of the chambers of commerce" and the high chamber levies. Therefore, she again called for the abolition of Chamber Levy 2 and a reform of trade law. It must also be critically examined for which trades regulation is justified.

FPÖ General Secretary Michael Schnedlitz, on the other hand, criticized the proposals as a "pure PR stunt" and "uncoordinated micro wish list," pointing out that the measures were neither coordinated with the coalition partners nor would they bring substantial relief for citizens and companies. Instead of small individual measures, he called for a "real relief offensive," "real structural reforms," and to "radically slim down the state."

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.