Corona fund in turmoil

Not everyone who is entitled to money gets it back

In coronavirus times, strict controls and punishments were imposed. Not always rightly so, as the Constitutional Court found. However, St. Pölten residents have not yet had their money back.

(Bild: Rojsek-Wiedergut Uta)

The provincial capital does not send out notifications to citizens who are entitled to money from the Corona Fund. Now FPÖ provincial councillor Christoph Luisser is stepping into the ring against SPÖ mayor Matthias Stadler. That promises to be really tough!

The black-blue state coalition only recently celebrated its first birthday. So it's been that long since a fund was set up at the insistence of the Freedom Party in Lower Austria to repay the coronavirus penalties that were later overturned by the Constitutional Court. Since then, remittances have been processed throughout the country.

Dispute over postage costs
Throughout the country? Apparently not. "I have noticed that St. Pölten is the only city in the whole of Lower Austria that opposes the repayment of corona fines," explains the responsible FPÖ state councillor Christoph Luisser in a letter to Matthias Stadler, SPÖ mayor of the state capital. The reason: "The city does not want to bear the costs of notifying the persons concerned," says Luisser.

Matthias Stadler: "The state would have all the necessary data itself."

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

St. Pölten puts up a fight
The town hall won't take this lying down. The counterattack: "If the FPÖ believes that administrative criminal proceedings are a municipal task, they are mistaken." Such cases are handled by the district authorities. As all such proceedings in St. Pölten are carried out via the relevant state authority program, it should be easy for the state to identify and write to those affected itself. "It seems unfair to operate a measure of the province at the expense of the statutory cities," Stadler repeated the argument he had already put forward in February.

Christoph Luisser: "There is a lack of political will in St. Pölten."

(Bild: FPÖ)

Criticism of the provincial capital
Luisser, however, is not letting up. The Freedom Party member even wants to cover the postage costs for sending the notices: "Unfortunately, this was not accepted in St. Pölten." The provincial councillor is not sparing in his criticism of the attitude of the capital's leadership. Luisser: "This is arbitrary and contradicts fundamental principles of social justice."