Re: News from Austria

**Lamplighter** Fri Jun 24, 2016 8:40 am

http://www.thelocal.at/20160624/brits-in-austria-fearful-after-uk-opts-for-brexit

http://www.thelocal.at/20160623/40-of-austrians-in-favour-of-austrian-eu-referendum-brexit

**bb1** Fri Jun 24, 2016 9:34 am

Vienna based Christopher Kennedy said: "I really do not understand what everyone is worried about. I have been in Austria 24 years. I came before Austria joined the EU and I will still be here when the EU has long gone."

An extremely sensible man, IMO - and at least he isn't calling people 'rash and stupid'.

**Lamplighter** Fri Jun 24, 2016 9:42 am

bb1 wrote:Vienna based Christopher Kennedy said: "I really do not understand what everyone is worried about. I have been in Austria 24 years. I came before Austria joined the EU and I will still be here when the EU has long gone."

An extremely sensible man, IMO - and at least he isn't calling people 'rash and stupid'.

I am not worried, I have dual nationality and will just not bother to renew my UK passport which runs out next year and be Austrian. And, if Scotland were to become an independent sovereign state, I would apply for a Scots passport. LL

**bb1** Fri Jun 24, 2016 9:56 am

I simply don't see that happening, LL. Holyrood signed a large, legal document agreeing with Westminster that the 2014 referendum was it.

Some kind of federal system needs sorted out, IMO, but if Ms Sturgeon whips up the mob by declaring UDI or something, it will be completely illegal.

The EU would NOT welcome us in, not with a 9% deficit - and do you see Spain, and other nations, setting a precedent like that, with some parts of member countries, in, and others out? It's unworkable.

The only reason Scots are virtue-signalling about being 'European' is that there are very few 'migrants' here - easy to claim the moral high ground when you don't have to face problems.

**Lamplighter** Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:49 am

http://www.thelocal.at/20160627/hofer-eu-referendum-for-austria-if-there-are-no-reforms-brexit

**bb1** Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:55 am

Hofer says the European Union functioned well while it remained a purely economical union and not a political one. “I firmly believe the European Union has a positive future, provided that we abandon the idea of a centralised model,” he said.

Yes, it's always going to come back to that. And can anyone really say their lives have been enhanced by those cursed EU-imposed light bulbs?

I know it sounds silly, but little things like that do tip people over the edge, because it's the EU meddling right in people's own homes.

**Lamplighter** Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:58 am

Sorry, totally confused here, what the hell have light bulbs to do with anything? LL

**bb1** Mon Jun 27, 2016 12:15 pm

Everything, LL. You may have escaped these horrors so far, but a few years back, the EU decided normal lightbulbs were bad for the environment or something, and it became illegal to sell them.

We now have to suffer these low wattage horrors, which actually take a few seconds to warm up, like old TV sets with valves. They are also many times more expensive, and no, they do NOT last forever. They're absolutely horrible for anyone with vision problems, and potentially lethal for older people on stairs, etc.

It is still possible to obtain cheap, real light bulbs from Asian shops, but as they tend to be made in sweatshops in Pakistan, they can be a bit exciting....

I generally use low-energy halogen bulbs as they do give off better light, but they are expensive.

**Lamplighter** Mon Jun 27, 2016 12:25 pm

Oh. Well, the lightbulbs here are the same as the ones I have always used at the Vienna flat, Been in this house ten years and the flat since the dawn of time. Last time I bought a lightbulb here was when I moved in, can't think back that far for Vienna. Maybe it was/is a UK problem? LL

**bb1** Mon Jun 27, 2016 12:37 pm

I've no idea, LL, maybe this particular EU edict hasn't yet been enforced where you are? It's like the low-voltage vacuum cleaners that actually use MORE electricity because it takes longer to do a decent bit of hoovering....

**Lamplighter** Mon Jun 27, 2016 12:48 pm

bb1 wrote:I've no idea, LL, maybe this particular EU edict hasn't yet been enforced where you are? It's like the low-voltage vacuum cleaners that actually use MORE electricity because it takes longer to do a decent bit of hoovering....

To me this sounds a bit like the UK drives on the wrong side of the road!! I bought a new vacuum three years ago and it's very reliable, fast and goes like speedy gonzales. No more knowledgable re such matters as I am re politics!!!! LL

**bb1** Mon Jun 27, 2016 12:52 pm

It's not the UK, LL, this is all coming from the EU:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/21/anger-as-eu-bans-most-powerful-vacuum-cleaners

EU ban on powerful vacuum cleaners prompts anger and legal challenge
Which? tells consumers to buy now as Best Buy cleaners fall foul of EU energy label that prohibits motors above 1,600w

**lily** Mon Jun 27, 2016 3:42 pm

Why should the people that made that law care anyway? I bet none of them clean their own homes.

**bb1** Mon Jun 27, 2016 3:51 pm

And it will have taken thousands of them to dream it up and enforce it, all on high public sector policies.

**lily** Mon Jun 27, 2016 4:12 pm

Precisely!

**Max** Mon Jun 27, 2016 10:46 pm

bb1 wrote:Everything, LL. You may have escaped these horrors so far, but a few years back, the EU decided normal lightbulbs were bad for the environment or something, and it became illegal to sell them.

We now have to suffer these low wattage horrors, which actually take a few seconds to warm up, like old TV sets with valves. They are also many times more expensive, and no, they do NOT last forever. They're absolutely horrible for anyone with vision problems, and potentially lethal for older people on stairs, etc.

It is still possible to obtain cheap, real light bulbs from Asian shops, but as they tend to be made in sweatshops in Pakistan, they can be a bit exciting....

I generally use low-energy halogen bulbs as they do give off better light, but they are expensive.

There have been many cross words in this household over those light bulbs.
Did you see this about the halogen bulbs ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2976692/Why-EU-s-plan-ban-halogen-light-bulbs-make-blow-fuse-JAMES-DELINGPOLE.html

**bb1** Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:00 pm

I hadn't seen that, Max.

So, how alien and disturbing it felt for those of us who had to queue last summer for our last ever chance to buy a powerful vacuum cleaner; or for those of us who, as I did, had to scour the internet to try to find our final stockpile of those marvellous 150W incandescent light bulbs.
Remember them? They used to fill the room with a wonderful warm glow and illuminate it far more brightly then their horrible, headache-inducing, flickery low-energy replacements.
Thanks to the EU, for the first time in our lives, we were experiencing how it must have been to live behind the Iron Curtain

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2976692/Why-EU-s-plan-ban-halogen-light-bulbs-make-blow-fuse-JAMES-DELINGPOLE.html#ixzz4Cpbg4Oqe
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

If you ever manage to get hold of a real lightbulb, the difference in light is obvious as soon as it's switched on.

And yes, the low energy ones do flicker.

**Lamplighter** Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:23 am

http://www.thelocal.at/20160629/kurz-says-eu-migration-policy-a-dramatic-failure

http://www.thelocal.at/20160629/no-work-for-viennas-fiaker-horses-during-heatwaves

**bb1** Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:57 am

And he repeated his demand for migrants to be intercepted before they arrive by boat. "If someone tries to come illegally to Europe, they must be stopped at the EU's external border and returned to their transit country or country of origin - otherwise we are indirectly supporting people smugglers and even more people will drown.”

He's right - and these so-called 'activists' are just as bad.

**bb1** Fri Jul 01, 2016 11:49 am

Oh Lord......

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/austria-annuls-presidential-election-annulled-cancelled-far-right-right-wing-candidate-lost-freedom-a7113261.html

Austria to re-run presidential election after results challenged by far-right candidate who narrowly lost
Austria's highest court has overturned the result of the recent presidential elections

Katie Forster @katieforster 17 seconds ago

Austria's highest court has annulled the result of the presidential electons which took place last month after a challenge by the right-wing Freedom Party.

Norbert Hofer, the Freedom Party's presidential candidate, lost the election to former Green Party politician Alexander Van der Bellen by less than a percentage point.

The election will be re-run after an objection to the result was raised by the Freedom Party, who said postal votes had been improperly handled.

Mr Hofer, 45, who ran a pro-gun, anti-immigrant campaign, picked up nearly half of the vote amid widespread dissatisfaction with Austria's main political parties.

But Mr Van der Bellen, 72, a radical environmentalist whose parents are refugees, won with 50.35 per cent of the vote after postal votes were counted.

The second round of the Austrian presidential elections, which take place every six years, was held on 22 May.

Mr Hofer's loss to independent candidate Mr Van der Bellen marked the first time since the Second World War an Austrian president had not been backed by either of the establishment centrist parties, the Social Democrats or the People's party.

More to follow...

**Lamplighter** Fri Jul 01, 2016 11:56 am

http://www.thelocal.at/20160701/austrian-court-annuls-presidential-election-result-after-far-right-challenge

Austrian court annuls presidential election result

Published: 01 Jul 2016 11:59 GMT+02:00

Austria's Constitutional Court has called for a total re-run of the recent presidential election.

It upheld a challenge brought by the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) against its candidate Norbert Hofer's narrow defeat in May's presidential election.

"The challenge brought by Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache against the May 22 election... has been upheld," said Gerhard Holzinger, head of Austria's Constitutional Court.

Norbert Hofer of the FPOe came top in a first round in April but then lost by only 30,863 votes to Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent backed by the Green Party, in a runoff.

Preliminary results on the evening had given Hofer a narrow lead but after some 700,000 postal votes were counted, Van der Bellen was declared the winner of the largely ceremonial post the next day.

The FPOe, which is topping opinion polls ahead of the next scheduled general elections in 2018 on the back of unease about immigration, launched a legal challenge on June 8 because of "massive irregularities".

These included allegations that tens of thousands of votes were opened earlier than allowed under election rules and that some votes were counted by people not authorised to do so.

**bb1** Fri Jul 01, 2016 12:03 pm

Postal votes are a minefield in the UK, LL - they're one of the reasons the registration system was tightened up.

**Lamplighter** Mon Jul 11, 2016 7:59 am

Kurz: Refugee policy caused Brexit
Austria's Foreign Minister has blamed the EU's disastrous refugee policy as the reason for Brexit, and believes the issue may spell the end of the union
http://www.thelocal.at/20160630/kurz-refugee-policy-caused-brexit

Asylum applications continue to fall in Austria
The number of asylum applications received in Austria dropped by around 40% in May, compared to the same month last year.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160707/asylum-applications-drop-by-40-in-austria

Border controls cause row between Austria and Hungary
Hungarian authorities have come under fire from Austria’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka after they began checking people crossing the border from Austria into Hungary.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160706/hungary-border-controls-lead-to-diplomatic-row-with-austria

**bb1** Mon Jul 11, 2016 10:41 am

And now in an interview with German media he has branded the refugee policy of the EU as the "worst mistake possible" and warns that if nothing happens Europe will eventually disintegrate.

He said that people had become extremely emotional about the whole subject and at the end of the day it was the reason for the British decision to vote for Brexit.

IMO, he's right, LL. If it hadn't been for Merkel's madness, then the whole debate would have been rather lifeless, revolving around trade and law.

But thanks to Merkel's foolishness, people reacted in utter horror to the mobs of total strangers that were being allowed to simply walk into Europe.

Incidentally, I have NO time for the hypocritical virtue-signalling from some in Scotland over immigration; it's easy to be pious and fingerwag over problems that barely affect you.

As it is, there was virtually NO Leave campaign in Scotland - yet Leave still got 40% of the vote here, the bulk of the votes from SNP supporters.....

**Lamplighter** Wed Jul 13, 2016 7:35 am

http://www.thelocal.at/20160712/austria-has-go-ahead-to-seize-hitlers-birth-house

Austria has greenlight to seize Hitler's birth house
Published: 12 Jul 2016 12:23 GMT+02:00

The Austrian cabinet has given the go ahead to expropriate the house where Hitler was born in the latest in a long-running dispute over the controversial building.

The government began leasing the house in Braunau am Inn, a town near the German border, from its owner in 1972 and turned it into a centre for people with disabilities.

The arrangement for the use of the building came to an abrupt end five years ago, however, when the owner refused to grant permission for renovation works.

The government - which pays €4,800 a month to lease the 800 square metre house - had been in lengthy negotiations with the owner over finding new tenants but the two sides failed to reach an agreement and the owner refused to sell the property.

Authorities have long-feared the site becoming a pilgrimage spot for neo-Nazis but have been unable to come to an agreement over the best use of the property, which has stood empty since 2011.

Proposals to expropriate the building from the owner were suggested earlier this year and at the cabinet meeting this summer, the government gave the go ahead.

This means they will have control over what to do with the house in the future, although a commission of historians is currently deciding what might be an appropriate use of the building.

The issue has sparked heated debate among Braunau's 17,000 residents. Some want it to become a refugee centre, others a museum dedicated to Austria's liberation and others prefer its demolition.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka suggested earlier this year that the property should be demolished, arguing it would be the “cleanest solution”.

The head of the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW), which documents far-right and fascist activities, Gerhard Baumgartner suggested to Die Presse that the site should be turned into something like a supermarket or fire station.

“You must completely depoliticise the place. You must put up something that no-one wants to be photographed in front of,” he said. “I don’t think you have to tear down the old house.”

His parents' grave etc has already been moved to another anonymous resting place for the same reason, neo-nazis' pilgramages to it. Most Austrians wiould prefer to forget he was born Austrian, he took German citizenship in order to become German Chancellor. LL
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/30/adolf-hitler-parents-grave-tombstone

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