« Would have saved somewhere else » – Diepresse.com
Structural reforms are needed, but not a higher retirement age, according to FPÖ budget speaker Arnold Schiefer.
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The civil servant salaries are “absolutely necessary,” says FPÖ budget speaker Schiefer. Caio Kauffmann
The press: There was a lot of criticism from the FPÖ of the budget now presented for 2025. In large parts, however, this is exactly the consolidation plan that they presented during the negotiation with the ÖVP in early January. So do you criticize yourself now?
Arnold Schiefer: No, it is exactly the other way around. On the one hand, the government parties celebrate themselves that they have brought together a great budget in ten weeks. And on the other hand, they say that this is based on the lists we created in January. Because with us it was only a list of measures for a letter to Brussels. The measures contained therein were also based on the numbers at that time. At that time, for example, we did not have the opportunity to discuss social catches on the measures. But apparently this was the basic structure for the current budget.
However, they now also criticize that the government has not succeeded in avoiding the EU Commission’s deficit proceedings. Where would you have saved in addition?
We said in January that we save these 6.4 billion euros to avoid the deficit procedure. So we therefore put together a quick package at the time. But now this amount is not enough to avoid the deficit procedure. Therefore, the question is whether we would have implemented the package in this way.
That means you might have saved less?
