Big promise

Government wants to “put the brakes on bureaucracy”

(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

Wednesday's Council of Ministers ended with "important decisions", as Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP) emphasized. In addition to the plan to put a permanent stop to family reunification for asylum seekers, the brakes are to be put on in particular when it comes to bureaucracy.

A "deregulation detox" is urgently needed in the country, explained NEOS State Secretary Sepp Schellhorn, who is responsible for this. Before the end of this year - "don't pin me down to a date" - he wants to present a corresponding bureaucracy reduction report.

No more two or three tracks
What can be expected from this "bureaucracy brake": a transparent presentation of costs and citizens should be relieved of unnecessary bureaucracy. There is a particular focus on two or even three tracks, which the State Secretary wants to put an end to.

Although he is based in the Foreign Ministry - and therefore has no direct influence on other departments - Schellhorn believes his plan has a good chance of being implemented. After all, it is not about party political interests, but about Austria as a business location, he appealed.

Relieffor small and medium-sized enterprises is coming
There is also relief for companies. A relief package agreed in the Council of Ministers is intended to strengthen the backbone of the Austrian economy - small and medium-sized enterprises, which contribute around 160 billion euros to economic output, according to the Chancellor.

To this end, a five-point plan is now being implemented:

• Increase in the basic flat rate
• Abolition of the obligation to print out receipts up to 35 euros
• Abolition of the Nova for small trucks in these companies
• Simplification of approval procedures

Family reunification: systems already overloaded in some cases
The now fixed stop to family reunification in the asylum sector had already been hotly debated in advance. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) emphasized that the aim was to safeguard the measures already in place in the long term.

SPÖ State Secretary Jörg Leichtfried also agreed: The reception capacities are not only limited, the systems are already working to capacity or even overloaded due to the influx.