In Vienna, funding was already cut for 13 kindergarten associations in 2026. At the affected locations, almost 1500 children were cared for in total. Now, the Vienna ÖVP is criticizing the city’s handling of the affected families. The focus is particularly on informing the parents and finding replacement places.

The figures come from a request under the Freedom of Information Act, which the ÖVP submitted. As reported by the APA, ÖVP club chairman Harald Zierfuß particularly criticizes that the responsible municipal department 10 (MA 10) does not inform the affected parents themselves about the funding stop.

According to APA, the background to the funding stops are irregularities that were found or suspected in the management of the respective kindergarten sponsoring associations.

A total of 13 associations were affected by such measures in 2026.

According to the response obtained by the ÖVP, these associations received funding totaling 121 million euros since 2010.

For five of the affected sponsors, cooperation with the city had already existed since 2009 or 2010, and thus since the beginnings of the Vienna free kindergarten.

According to the information provided by Zierfuß, the city is demanding more than one million euros back. Part of these repayment claims is still outstanding.

The impacts on the affected families are particularly relevant.

According to the response, almost 1500 children were cared for at the locations of the 13 kindergarten associations.

None of the affected providers continue their operations without municipal funding.

However, it is not known how many children have since found a new childcare place and how many families are still searching.

According to the ÖVP, the city does not have any corresponding data on this.

Affected families can contact the city’s responsible service center.

A central point of criticism from the Vienna ÖVP concerns communication with parents.

As can be seen from the response to the inquiry, the affected kindergarten provider associations are requested by MA 10 to promptly inform parents about the funding stop.

The city does not undertake this notification itself.

For ÖVP club chairman Harald Zierfuß, this approach is incomprehensible.

He criticizes that the city leaves communication to those associations where irregularities had previously been identified.

„MA 10 doesn’t even consider it worth the effort to inform parents about closures,“ Zierfuß explained to the APA.

He described the form of communication as „unacceptable“.

Whether the affected sponsoring associations actually fulfilled their information obligations is not clear from the present report.

In addition to the parent information, the ÖVP also questions the city’s controls.

According to Zierfuß, there have been indications of problems with four of the 13 affected sponsors since 2024.

Nevertheless, funding continued to be paid out.

The ÖVP politician therefore demands an explanation as to why the city did not terminate the cooperation earlier.

Some of the funding stops occurred after the publication of a report by the Vienna City Audit Office, which revealed irregularities in kindergarten sponsoring associations.

Whether there is criminally relevant behavior in the individual cases has not been conclusively clarified.

According to the response to the inquiry, at least at the time of the information, no reports had yet been filed with the public prosecutor’s office.

The corresponding review and decision-making process had not yet been completed.

The ÖVP accuses the city of neglecting the control of subsidies.

A current statement from the responsible MA 10 regarding the allegations is not included in the present APA report.

Families whose kindergarten is affected by a funding freeze can contact the responsible service center of the City of Vienna according to the response to the inquiry.

It remains unclear how many children currently still need a replacement place.

Likewise, the available information does not indicate what specific support measures the city offers for the affected families.

The criticism from the ÖVP is therefore not only directed at the previous subsidy controls but also at the lack of oversight regarding the further care of the children.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article .