Pre-election campaign launched

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(Bild: APA/Tobias Steinmaurer)

The NEOS have also started their pre-election campaign. In addition to many well-known pink demands, party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger also specified the idea of an "opportunity account" for all 18-year-olds in the amount of 25,000 euros on Thursday and called for the "dismantling" of social media companies.

Party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger presented the content-related announcements for this year's super election year on Thursday evening in Vienna together with her new book. In her speech, the NEOS leader took a hard line on social media, which she blamed for the "increasingly aggressive mood". 

"We cannot make our democracy dependent on narcissistic tech billionaires", said Meinl-Reisinger and called for competition policy measures to "break up" the social media companies. In terms of migration policy, she once again called for a European solution, but also spoke out in favor of asylum procedures outside of Europe.

"Blatant failure of leadership in politics"
In view of the current "toxic situation" with a crisis of trust and a "blatant failure of leadership" in politics, a "pact of trust" is needed to counteract social polarization, Meinl-Reisinger demanded in a keynote speech on the 20th floor of the Ares Tower in Vienna's Donau-City. Specifically, the NEOS leader believes that the middle of society in particular is currently under pressure.

She accused the "complacent established parties" and their male colleagues at the top of "wasting their energy on fighting each other and not on solutions for the people". The "identity politics of the left and right are not getting us anywhere either", said Meinl-Reisinger, who presented the content-related announcements for this year's super election year together with her new book.

Many familiar NEOS plans presented
What would be missing is an effort to find real solutions and a plan for a better future. The plan now presented by Meinl-Reisinger includes many well-known NEOS ideas such as the reduction of non-wage labor costs, a reform of the pension system and a commitment to European assistance. She went one better when it came to the pink heart issue of education and called for schools to be separated from the administration.

25,000 euros for everyone aged 18 and over
Her call for a "civil right to education" includes a legal entitlement to a nursery place from the first birthday and a common school up to the age of twelve, as well as earmarked state support for all young people aged 18 and over. An "opportunity account" is to provide 25,000 euros for training, setting up a business or buying their first home. 

The money is to be repaid in the event of a later inheritance. According to Meinl-Reisinger, the whole thing is to be financed by raising the retirement age by one year.