Austria: Federal Minister Edtstadler defends compulsory vaccination
A debate is taking place in the Bundestag today about the introduction of general corona vaccination. It is considered above all as, there are several motions for guidance a law in preparation.
Austria is already a few steps further: Parliament there approved the introduction of general vaccination requirements last week. After a heated debate, the clear majority of MPs in the National Council were in favour.
“Greatest possible chances” that vaccination will endure in court
Karoline Edtstadler, ÖVP politician and Federal Minister for the EU and the Constitution in Austria, expects lawsuits against the general obligation to vaccinate. “I’m quite sure that it will very soon end up before the constitutional court in Austria,” she said in an interview with Bayern 2.
However, the lawyer assumes that the legislative package WILL stand up to the judges. “There are very clear European judicatures here, also from the European Court of Human Rights, which stipulate what must be fulfilled so that a vaccination requirement can also be constitutionally lawful,” explained Edtstadler. “We have explained all this well in the explanations of the law,” she emphasized. That is why there is “the greatest possible chance” that the obligation to vaccinate will be upheld in the highest courts.
“We did everything we could, involved the experts and, above all, looked into whether this vaccination was still effective,” says Karoline Edtstadler.
End lockdown-to-lockdown action
A general obligation to vaccinate is an encroachment on fundamental rights. And that had to be particularly justified, said the ÖVP politician. “We wanted to get out of this lockdown-to-lockdown trade,” she said.
“In consultation with many experts, we have made changes in order to be prepared for the future, in order – and we know this – to have a high proportion of vaccinated sections of the population, so that a possibly new virus variant cannot occur here as violently as this in the past of the Autumn War.”
Edtstadler: “We involved everyone”
Before today’s orientation debate on a general obligation to vaccinate in the German Bundestag, the Austrian said with a view to the legislative process in Vienna: “These were intensive discussions. We involved everyone and in particular exchanged ideas with experts. And I think that’s probably the one Success now of this broad approval [im Nationalrat] and I also feel like the emotions are going down a bit.”
Vaccination compulsory from February in Austria
From the beginning of February, vaccination against the corona virus will apply in Austria from the age of 18. Checks will be carried out from mid-March. Those who do not get vaccinated face fines of up to 3,600 euros.