The Social Democrats (SPÖ) and regional power brokers have attacked Maria Fekter. The People’s Party (ÖVP) finance minister announced yesterday (Mon) she wanted to sanction provincial governments which breached the harsh new budget rules. Fekter said the agreement between the federal government and the provinces should not expire in 2017. The SPÖ-ÖVP coalition wants to […]
Volksbank AG (ÖVAG) suffered losses of more than 1.3 billion Euros last year. Bank officials announced yesterday (Thurs) that the Viennese finance institute sustained a loss of 1.34 billion Euros in 2011. The news means that the Republic of Austria is robbed of its chances to demand the one billion Euros of participation capital back […]
Viennese state prosecutors got the green light to investigate against Werner Amon. A juridical committee rejected the People’s Party (ÖVP) parliament member’s appeal to withdraw the case from the Viennese prosecution. Amon is suspected of money laundering. An agency once headed by lobbyist Peter Hochegger transferred 10,000 Euros to the Federal Workers’ and Employees’ Association […]
Austrian investors who cooperated with Telekom Austria (TA) are facing fraud investigations. Magazine profil reported in its online edition yesterday (Thurs) that anti-corruption investigators started examining the actions of billionaire Martin Schlaff and former People’s Party (ÖVP) chief Josef Taus, one of Austria’s busiest investors. TA benefited from Schlaff’s engagements in Bulgaria where the Austrian […]
The People’s Party (ÖVP) has appealed to ORF bosses to rethink their intention to relocate the broadcaster’s headquarters. ORF general director Alexander Wrabetz is understood to be keen on building a new ORF head office in Vienna-Landstraße. The state-funded broadcasting corporation has its headquarters in the Viennese district of Hietzing at the moment. The building […]
Former Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) Vice Chancellor Hubert Gorbach attended several hunting trips of a weapon industry and telecommunication technology lobbyist, according to leaked documents. Magazine News reports today (Thurs) that Gorbach took part in the hunting outings organised by Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly. The lobbyist is married to ex-People’s Party (ÖVP) General Secretary […]
Social workers will visit badly integrated foreigners at home to help them learning German, People’s Party (ÖVP) Integration Secretary Sebastian Kurz announced yesterday (Tues). Kurz said his office planned to expand a successful Viennese pilot project concept based on programmes in Switzerland and Australia to several other Austrian towns and cities in the coming months. […]
Othmar Karas has claimed that there would already be a tax on financial transactions if the European Parliament (EP) had the final say. Karas – who heads the EP delegation of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) – said today (Weds) current European Union (EU) regulations kept the union from acting efficiently. He told the Kurier […]
The opposition plans to organise a series of extraordinary parliamentary meetings to raise the pressure on the People’s Party (ÖVP). Members of parliament (MPs) representing the ÖVP in the anti-corruption commission dramatically reduced the number of witnesses to be questioned concerning the Federal Workers’ and Employees’ Association (ÖAAB) controversy. A magazine published by the organisation, […]
A renowned political strategist has warned that the People’s Party (ÖVP) could be “pulverised” in the approaching election campaign. Thomas Hofer writes in a guest article for political magazine profil that the conservative party might find it difficult to position itself in the expected war of words between Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Werner Faymann and […]