Category: Austria

When a job ends in Austria, the next chapter is not the same for everyone. In 2025, more than one in four people, 28 percent, had no employment immediately after leaving or losing a job, according to new figures from Statistics Austria. The data, drawn from the country’s register-based labour-market records, reveal a labour market […]

VIENNA: Austria’s government has agreed to tighten its espionage laws, closing a long-criticised loophole and threatening foreign agents with much harsher punishment. Under the draft legislation, now entering the review process, spying against international organisations based in Austria would become a criminal offence for the first time. Until now, espionage was punishable only when it […]

A sharp political dispute over Austrian citizenship has reignited a familiar national question: who truly belongs in Austria, and what should a person have to prove before receiving its passport? The controversy grew after President Alexander Van der Bellen called, on National Day, for easier access to citizenship for children born in Austria. His words […]

Karner Calls for Mass Rejections at EU Borders Without Individual Asylum Checks Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner has sparked fresh controversy over European migration policy by calling for migrants to be turned away at EU borders without individual asylum assessments during a mass influx. In an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, the conservative […]

As New Year’s Eve approaches, Vienna’s police are preparing for a battle against the bangs, flashes and hidden dangers of illegal fireworks. This year alone, authorities across Austria have registered 4,000 cases linked to banned pyrotechnics, and 700 of them were found in the capital, reported by Heute. Federal Police Director Michael Takács shared the […]

Austria’s Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer has firmly rejected calls to abolish the country’s aviation tax, arguing that the government cannot afford to lose the €190 million in annual revenue it generates. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the EU finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Marterbauer said the proposed abolition was financially unrealistic, particularly as […]

VIENNA — Austria’s flu season appears to have arrived in earnest, with tens of thousands of insured workers forced to stay home last week because of colds, flu-like infections and influenza. New figures from the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) show a sharp rise in sickness absences. In the week before last, 43,535 insured people […]

Austria is saying goodbye to the familiar paper motorway sticker. From December 1, 2026, drivers will no longer be able to buy a physical vignette to display on their windscreen; instead, all toll passes will be available only in digital form, reported by Öamtc. After nearly 30 years, the change marks the end of the […]

AUA Loses Five Dreamliners Despite €150 Million State Rescue VIENNA: Six years after Austria spent millions of euros of taxpayers’ money to rescue Austrian Airlines (AUA) from financial collapse, the national carrier has suffered another major setback. Five brand-new long-haul aircraft originally planned for its fleet will now be transferred to other airlines within the […]

Russia Threatens Austria With ‘Painful’ Retaliation After Diplomat Expulsions Russia has threatened Austria with countermeasures following Vienna’s decision to expel four Russian diplomats. Deputy Foreign Minister Dmitry Lyubinsky told the Russian state news agency TASS that Moscow’s response would be proportionate, but would be “inevitably painful” for Austria. “Any unfriendly action by the Austrian authorities […]