1996: Issuing of the Graz Begging Ordinance

The theme of begging was bitterly and repeatedly debated in the first half of the 20th century. In the Second Republic, the “economic miracle”, full employment and social policies led to a sharp decline in poverty. There was only a smattering of voices in the Austrian newspapers that complained about the purported laziness of punks begging people for money.

With the rapid economic restructuring of states in Austria’s neighbouring countries after the fall of state socialism, unemployment drastically rose. The old, large employers were soon bankrupt, and new foreign companies often had no positions for less educated people. Through tax reforms, the state social system was often no longer financially viable or had already been greatly reduced anyway. As a result, in the mid-1990s, people from Slovakia started to come to Austria in search of temporary labour or to beg in the streets. Migrants from the war-torn states of ex-Yugoslavia also came here for temporary work. In Graz this led to a heated public debate during all of 1996 on whether people should stand in solidarity with the poor or rather, prioritise the “cleanliness” of the city. Women from ex-Yugoslavia in particular were reproached for using begging as a pretext for criminal activities, being ungrateful or aggressive. For the first time in the history of the Second Republic, an ordinance was adopted in December 1996 in Graz that made “intrusive begging” and begging with children a punishable offence. In practice, this mostly meant that it was made impossible for women to beg while men were tolerated if they were calm and kneeling. The SPÖ (Social Democratic Party of Austria), which supplied the mayor and supported the ordinance, went through an ordeal with the debate.

Many of the representations of, arguments and also political responses about beggars from Central and Eastern Europe eventually spread throughout all of Austria as well as to other cities in Western Europe. Most notable was the assumption that began in Graz, that all Roma people were beggars and, conversely, all beggars were Roma people. Migrants were continuously accused of being unwilling to do other work, although scientific studies showed that the vast majority of beggars are more likely to seek work and see begging as a way out of distress.