Austria has approved a VAT cut on basic foods and Vienna will ban old clothes collection containers from public land, plus more stories from Austria on Friday.
Austria approves VAT cut on basic foods from July
Austria’s Nationalrat has approved a cut in value-added tax on selected basic foods from July 1st, according to the Austrian Parliament.
The measure lowers VAT from 10 percent to 4.9 percent on products including milk, butter, eggs, rice, wheat flour, pasta and bread. Most vegetables, including frozen vegetables, and common stone and pome fruits, are also covered.
Finance State Secretary Barbara Eibinger-Miedl said private households should save an average of around €100 per year. The Finance Ministry expects the tax cut to reduce annual state revenue by €400 million, with a planned parcel levy intended to help finance the measure.
The FPÖ and Greens opposed the change. Critics argued that the planned parcel levy and other government savings would offset the relief, while the Greens also questioned whether higher-income households would benefit more from the tax cut.
READ ALSO: What Austria’s new lower VAT on food could mean for your shopping bill
Vienna votes to ban old clothes containers from public land
Vienna’s state parliament has passed a change to the city’s Gebrauchsabgabegesetz that will ban textile collection containers on public land from January 1st 2027.
Around 4 million kilograms of clothing are placed in roughly 2,200 collection containers in public space in Vienna each year. HUMANA alone operates 1,027 containers in the city and collected around 2.24 million kilograms of used clothing in 2025.
The organisation said people in Vienna can still donate clothing through existing containers and its 20 second-hand shops, which will now also act as full collection points. It said a meeting with the city government is scheduled for June 2nd to discuss transitional solutions and questions about the textile circular economy.
READ ALSO: Reader question: Where in Vienna can I donate clothes and other items?
Vienna’s Nordbrücke to undergo major renovation from 2028
Vienna’s Nordbrücke is to be completely renovated from 2028, with cyclists and pedestrians temporarily diverted from the neighbouring Steinitzsteg, Der Standard reported. The motorway link is used by around 110,000 vehicles a day and will not be fully closed during the works. Instead, part of the traffic will be diverted over the Steinitzsteg, which is currently reserved for pedestrians and cyclists.
During the renovation, two of the Nordbrücke’s four lanes will be closed in alternating phases. The Steinitzsteg has two traffic lanes and can therefore take diverted traffic. The works include strengthening steel beams, renewing coatings and replacing equipment such as railings, signs and crash barriers, with completion planned for 2031.
Cyclists and pedestrians will have to use the Floridsdorfer Brücke while the Steinitzsteg is closed. Vienna city councillor Ulli Sima said new segregated cycle paths will be built on Adalbert-Stifter-Straße in Brigittenau and Floridsdorfer Hauptstraße in Floridsdorf, and will remain after the renovation.
READ ALSO: Where Vienna’s newest cycle paths are being created right now
Hungary’s new prime minister visits Austria
Hungary’s new prime minister Péter Magyar visited Vienna on Thursday, where he met Chancellor Christian Stocker and presented a new chapter in Austrian-Hungarian relations, Die Presse reported.
The visit came at the start of the post-Orbán era in Hungary and formed part of Magyar’s Central Europe tour after stops in Poland. He also met President Alexander Van der Bellen and Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger.
Magyar spoke of cooperation while also saying national interests meant the two countries would not agree on everything. The issues raised included migration, border protection, asbestos pollution from quarries in the Hungarian-Burgenland border region, and the special tax affecting Austrian companies in Hungary.
Stocker stressed the importance of EU law. He also mentioned that 1,400 Austrian companies are involved in Hungary and have created 70,000 jobs there. Magyar invited Austria’s three-party government coalition to a joint government meeting at Gödöllő near Budapest in September.
READ ALSO: Do I need to pay taxes in Austria as a cross-border worker?
Worth reading
With mild temperatures, longer evenings and the Pentecost long weekend approaching, our guide to four spring day trips in and around Vienna looks at easy outings, including Lainzer Tiergarten, and Laxenburg Palace Park.
Members get access to this and other practical guides, explainers and in-depth stories on The Local Austria, helping readers make sense of daily life, travel and bureaucracy in Austria.
What’s happening in Austria today
Austria’s next public holiday is Pfingstmontag, or Whit Monday, on May 25th, while the Pentecost school break runs from Saturday May 23rd to Monday May 25th in all provinces.
Travel is expected to be busy ahead of the long weekend. ÖBB is treating May 22nd to May 25th as heavy travel days, with extra seats and connections, and is advising passengers to reserve seats.
READ ALSO: ÖBB adds more than 13,500 seats for Austria’s May holiday weekends
Road traffic may also be difficult, especially on the A10 Tauern Autobahn. Long queues are expected around the Pass Lueg – Werfen and Eben – Flachau works, and A10 exit bans for transit traffic run from today until May 25th.
Vienna’s Wiener Festwochen opens at Heldenplatz at 9:20 pm. The event is free and is likely to draw crowds around the city centre.
The weather is expected to be warm, with highs between 20C and 28C. The west should see several sunny hours, while parts of the east may have temporary cloud fields.
READ ALSO: What’s on in Austria: The best festivals and events in 2026 to get in your diary
Vocabulary
die Umsatzsteuer – value added tax, or VAT
das Grundnahrungsmittel – basic foodstuff
der Altkleidercontainer – old clothes collection container
die Nordbrücke – the Nordbrücke, a major bridge in Vienna
der Pfingstmontag – Whit Monday, a public holiday in Austria
If you have any questions about life in Austria, ideas for articles, or news tips for The Local, you can contact us at news@thelocal.at or leave a comment below.