The green club chairwoman Sigrid Maurer wants to spend an additional 250 million euros for the expansion of wind power and photovoltaics, her party colleague Leonore Gewessler ordered an expensive load of liquid gas in Abu Dhabi to be delivered by heavy oil tanker and now the green social and health minister also wants to hurry up Spending an additional 500 million euros in tax money: According to Johannes Rauch (Greens), half a billion euros are to be paid out to the 57,000 Ukrainian refugees already in Austria in the coming year in the form of minimum security contributions – although these Ukrainians are currently being looked after by basic needs.
In other words, according to Rauch, every Ukrainian refugee currently living in Austria should receive a minimum income of 978 euros a month, and a further 117 euros should be transferred for each child. Much less money is currently being spent on basic needs: adult refugees receive 215 euros a month as food allowance, minors 100 euros.
Of the 57,000 Ukrainian refugees currently admitted to Austria, 16,000 are schoolchildren, for whom 117 euros are to be transferred in the future. For 41,000 adults, the Republic would then have to transfer 978 euros per month if Johannes Rauch prevails. Together, that makes a monthly amount of 41.97 million euros, which would be 503.64 million euros per year, i.e. more than half a billion euros of tax money that would have to be spent on caring for the Ukrainian refugees alone.
If the war in Ukraine lasts two more years, Austria would face a financial burden of more than one billion euros. However, that would be the minimum assumption: Ukraine experts and military experts already believe that another wave of refugees from Ukraine can be expected in the near future if the situation does not improve after the massive power and drinking water failures. It is still unclear how many Ukrainians will leave their homeland – helpers who are well informed about the current situation in Ukraine expect 50,000 to 100,000 more refugees who could soon seek protection in Austria.
