Kickl's Salary Emperor

It is fundamentally absurd when FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl pretends he is not a representative of the "system." As the club chairman, he receives 16,211 euros gross per month at the taxpayers' expense. And because he has been active in the "system" for a long time and has been at least a member of the National Council for many years, a considerable sum has accumulated over the years. The satirical "Tagespresse" estimates it at nearly three million euros.

However, this is about the increase or non-increase of politicians' salaries in the coming year. For the federal government, Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP), Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler (SPÖ), and Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger (Neos) have announced a "zero salary round." Kickl's comment on this: The "system parties" have apparently realized that they cannot fleece the citizens and fatten the salaries of their own deputies.

That is a remarkable statement. Some of Kickl's party friends have not yet caught on: While the Styrian governor Mario Kunasek supports the zero salary round for his state, the vice-chairmen of Upper Austria and Salzburg, Manfred Haimbuchner and Marlene Svazek, are still hesitating.

Last year, they opposed Kickl and rejected a zero salary round: "If you want good politicians who will continue to endure this in the future, you must also value the profession," Svazek said at the time. Haimbuchner explained in a joint statement with Governor Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) that they did not want to participate in the "self-devaluation of the politician profession."

That has a point. On the other hand, the budgetary problems from Lake Constance to Lake Neusiedl are significant, and citizens have to endure such massive cuts that it can be seen as a necessary signal for politicians to make a visible contribution that goes beyond that.

Especially in SPÖ-Neos-led Vienna, one might wonder, in this context, why Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) and others have not yet announced a zero salary round. Here, the crisis is enormous, with a new debt of three to four billion euros looming this year alone. It would be all the more appropriate to cut back on politicians' salaries.

The main responsibility for this lies with the governing parties: At the federal level, ÖVP, SPÖ, and Neos, and in Vienna, for example, SPÖ and Neos. However, it is off the mark for Kickl to act as if they alone are responsible. He also bears responsibility, could, and indeed should, show leadership and exert pressure. It is also about his credibility: In several states, it also depends on his party friends who co-govern there. In Vienna, for example, they could increasingly demand the abolition of the expensive but unemployed, non-executive city councilors. Or would they rather be part of the "system"? One of these city councilors is, after all, their state party leader Dominik Nepp, with a monthly salary of 11,326.40 euros.

Johannes Huber runs the blog dieSubstanz.at – Analyses and Backgrounds on Politics

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