FPÖ – Schmiedlechner on the Green report: “ÖVP celebrates the alleged increase in income for the farms!”

2023-10-19 19:19:05

“For us Freedomites, Austrian family farms and the security of the food supply are very important to us”

Vienna (OTS) – “The ÖVP is celebrating the alleged increase in income for the farms. It would be nice if it were like that, but in reality our agricultural businesses are at an income level of 2011 – and this circumstance is a disgrace for this black-green agricultural policy,” said FPÖ agriculture spokesman NAbg today. Peter Schmiedlechner made it clear in his contribution to the debate.

“But the ÖVP and the Greens do not take into account that we have had high inflation in Austria for a long time and that the real plus is therefore significantly lower. An average business income of 45,757 euros would be nice if this only applied to one person. However, there are usually several people working on a farm, as can also be seen from the Green Report, which means that on average there are 2.7 people who work on a farm,” explained Schmielechner and continued: “That leaves just one person On average, just under 17,000 euros and social security also has to be paid. So there’s not much left, Mr. Minister. How are the farmers supposed to make a living from this?”

As his speech continued, the FPÖ agriculture spokesman also criticized the SPÖ, which constantly calls for tighter animal protection and further restrictions, and also the ÖVP, which betrays and sells local agriculture at every opportunity. “Your record is more than shocking. You are glossing over the situation, but that doesn’t help any farmer and on top of that, the farmers’ deaths continue happily. There are fewer and fewer farmers in Austria; there are currently only 109,808 farms in operation,” explained Schmiedlechner.

“The income of organic farms is even lower at 37,416 euros. It’s no wonder that more and more organic farms are having to give up. So what’s left after the Greens’ participation in government? Quite simply, fewer organic farms in Austria than before the Greens came into government,” said Schmielechner.

“For us Freedomites, Austrian family farms and the security of the food supply are very important to us. In contrast to the ÖVP and the Greens, we want to reverse the trend in agriculture, towards food sovereignty and independent farmers who can not only survive but live well from the sale of their high-quality products,” emphasized Schmielechner and continued: “The implementation of the following points of the A liberal relief package for agriculture would be necessary for this, which I will now submit in application form:

-Exit from the Green Deal: Less EU bureaucracy is needed. Instead of obliging farmers to take additional land out of production, domestic production must be supported and strengthened.

-Import stop for cheap Ukrainian grain: To protect local farmers, all necessary steps must be taken to allow duty-free grain imports from Ukraine only for transit to African destination countries.

-SV contributions waived in times of crisis: A rescue package is needed for agriculture as fair, rapid and unbureaucratic help.

-Abolish AMA marketing contributions: The AMA contributions have been a hidden property tax since the introduction of a general area contribution in January 2023 at the latest.

– Get out of the cost trap: The VAT on operating resources and the mineral oil tax must be suspended for all agricultural businesses in times of crisis in order to curb the exploding production costs.

-Agricultural summit for food sovereignty: The status of domestic food sovereignty must finally be discussed at an agricultural summit in order to develop sensible concepts for the future.

“The ÖVP Agriculture Minister is now asked to implement the points of the liberal relief package for agriculture listed in the justification for the benefit of local farmers,” said the FPÖ agriculture spokesman.