"I did inhale"

Meinl-Reisinger admits to cannabis use

NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger on Puls4/Puls 24

(Bild: APA/Puls 24/Jörg Klickermann)

NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger admitted on Tuesday evening that she had used cannabis in the past. "I did inhale", she said in response to a corresponding question in the Puls 4/Puls 24 "Summer Talks".

The party has also spoken out in favour of legalizing cannabis in the past. Following the corresponding step in Germany, the NEOS called for a "contemporary debate", among other things. One proposal, for example, was a THC limit value for traffic controls, similar to the alcohol limit values. At the same time, prevention and education were needed, it was said at the time.

The NEOS party leader was open to several questions. "I have changed my mind on migration. We need a tougher line and we need agreements with third countries," she said, for example. The integration offers made so far would not be enough, commitments are also needed. Unsurprisingly, she advocated a European solution and not a Vienna that negotiates with radical groups on migration.

I have changed my mind on migration. We need a tougher line and we need agreements with third countries.

Beate Meinl-Reisinger

"Have competence for education"
Meinl-Reisinger sees another problem in schools. Strata that tend to be less educated need to be picked up, she said, and the focus must be on equal opportunities. There have been no major upheavals in the education sector since 1962. "We have the competence for education, we can see that in Vienna," the politician is convinced. In the federal capital, her party colleague Christoph Wiederkehr is Deputy Mayor and City Councillor for Education.

More flexible pension system
However, the NEOS do not necessarily want to take over the Ministry of Education, but above all the Ministry of Finance. In any case, a spending brake would be needed in all departments in order to get the budget in order. At the same time, the people in Austria would have to be relieved.

Meinl-Reisinger also called for a more flexible pension system on Tuesday evening. She cited Sweden as a model, where the population can retire flexibly with increases or reductions depending on their retirement age. The pension amount then depends, among other things, on the amount paid into the pension account.

Not a "secret plan"
Incidentally, the NEOS leader does not think that a red-black government with NEOS participation is planned from the fall. She read this with astonishment. Such games, where things are negotiated in secret, will certainly not happen with her party.