Lower Austria different from Vienna?

ÖVP does not see care as hard work everywhere

Carer, construction worker - two heavy workers? The ÖVP sees it differently, depending on the location.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Stock.adobe.com/Gina Sanders, Andreas Tröster)

As a black person from Lower Austria, you have to vote "situationally flexible". It obviously depends on where you are currently living - Vienna or St. Pölten. 

A trip to Vienna is treacherous. A lot can get lost - a hat, jacket or umbrella, for example. Sometimes even an (alleged) political conviction. The latter apparently happened to Matthias Zauner recently. The regional managing director of the ÖVP in Lower Austria also holds the position for his party in the Federal Council. But for which one?

(Bild: Krone Kreativ)

Support for nursing staff
This question arises after the vote on the "Care is hard work" case. Christian Fischer (SPÖ) and his comrades requested in the provincial chamber of parliament that the Federal Council request the Minister of Social Affairs to amend the Heavy Labor Ordinance so that care activities are also included.

Once for, once against
As an ÖVP politician, Zauner voted against. So far, so normal. If it weren't for one small detail that made the matter even more piquant. Because the same motion had already been tabled by Social Democrats in the Lower Austrian provincial parliament in June. And lo and behold: the proposal was passed unanimously - in other words, with the sanctus of Zauner's parent party, the ÖVP-Niederösterreich.

Mutual malice
The SPÖ interprets this as a sign that there is "a lot of rumbling" in the ÖVP Lower Austria. This is because Zauner is "going against his own state party". In St. Pölten's Ferstlergasse, the black party headquarters of Lower Austria, they succinctly refer to the "difference between state and federal politics". And also to the fact that SPÖ leader Andreas Babler skipped this vote in the Federal Council: "Does he not stand by the motion of his own parliamentary group?"