Karl Nehammer and his conservative party, the Austrian People’s Party (OVP), have come under fire from opposition critics following the Austrian chancellor’s comments about child poverty, reports the German news agency DPA on Friday, September 29, according to Agerpres.
Nehammer and the OVP insist that their party is full of compassion, despite the remarks made about hot meals for children, statements that some have deemed offensive after they appeared in a video recording this week.
Nehammer sends children to buy “cheap” hamburgers from McDonald’s
The video, which has gone viral, shows Nehammer insisting that hot meals are affordable at low prices in Austria and questioning why people suggest that children go without hot meals in the country.
“Do you know what the cheapest hot meal in Austria is? It’s not healthy, but it’s cheap: a hamburger from McDonald’s,” he declared at a party internal event in July.
His comments have drawn criticism from the opposition and social welfare organizations.
Nehammer was also recorded criticizing the high proportion of part-time employees in Austria and suggesting that if people want more money, they should work more, these views being considered cynical.
“We are anything but lacking empathy”
But the OVP came to his defense on Friday, insisting on the importance of personal responsibility and performance.
“We are anything but lacking empathy,” said Christian Stocker, the general secretary of the OVP. Austria has one of the best social protection systems and one of the lowest poverty rates in the world, at 2.3%, he added.
The OVP’s social policy has managed to maintain a stable poverty rate despite difficult circumstances, he stated.
One in four part-time workers does so voluntarily rather than being forced by circumstances, which means they must be able to cope with a lower income in the short and long term, Stocker argued.
How the Austrian chancellor defends himself
Nehammer also defended his comments.
“I maintain that performance should be rewarded, and I support the idea that parents have a duty to take care of their children,” he asserted on Friday in a video posted on the X social media platform.
As for the fact that the video came to light only now, the OVP points the finger at the opposition and remarks that it was distributed just a few days after the government party launched a campaign entitled “Believe in Austria!” presenting the government’s achievements.
In the video, the chancellor exaggerated to support his position, in a manner appropriate for an internal event in politics or elsewhere, Stocker said.
Nehammer has also faced criticism for using images of the Russian ruble, instead of the euro, in the promotion of the OVP campaign, a clue that, according to critics, shows the chancellor’s proximity to the Kremlin.
Never a boring moment in #Austria: for its latest PR campaign titled “Believe in Austria,” the governing party OVP uses a stock image with Russian (!) rouble coins to illustrate its claim of being no. 2 in Europe when it comes to anti-inflation policies.
— Oliver Grimm (@grimmse) September 27, 2023Photo: Profimedia Images
