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Vienna’s free kindergarten is on the brink

In the fall of 2009, free kindergarten was introduced. Will it be history 17 years later?(Bild: HighwayStarz – stock.adobe.com)

Will Viennese parents soon have to pay for their children's kindergarten attendance again? Negotiations on the capital's tight budget are underway. City hall experts believe a social scale is possible. 

The Vienna Greens are convinced that the free kindergarten will be history from next year. The Green Party believes that parents and guardians will be required to pay monthly fees - most likely on a socially staggered basis - because the city's budget situation does not allow for anything else.

Exception: nothing will be charged for the compulsory kindergarten year or, from 2027, for the two compulsory kindergarten years, because the federal government will cover the costs anyway.

This is what the City Councillor for Finance says
The office of City Councillor for Finance Barbara Novak (SPÖ) does not want to feed speculation: "We are still in the middle of the budget preparation process, which is not yet complete. Therefore, we are not yet able to announce any details because they have not yet been finalized," she said in response to an inquiry from Krone.

The free kindergarten was introduced in 2009 under the then mayor Michael Häupl (SPÖ). Since then, kindergarten attendance has been free for all children whose main residence is in Vienna until they start school.

Before 2009, parents had to pay fees of up to several hundred euros each month. Currently, the only costs incurred are for meals, additional activities or longer childcare hours.