Austria’s coalition comprising the People’s Party (ÖVP), the Social Democrats (SPÖ), and the Neos is under fire again. After being dubbed by Junge Freiheit back in March as Austria’s most expensive government in history, considering the exorbitant sums government officials spend on themselves, this time it is Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos) who is making negative headlines.
It has been revealed that in the first month of his term alone, Wiederkehr invested exactly €126,155.81 of taxpayer money in external consulting services. As parliamentary inquiries by former Green Justice Minister Alma Zadić reveal, the pink minister used taxpayer money generously: the largest single sum, €30,000, went to a company of the interesting name Keep on Naturcampus, for a so-called basic training seminar.
Another PR agency, Ketchum, pocketed a total of almost €23,000, including for a crisis communication workshop and executive coaching. A further €9,840 was paid for training in inquiry and complaint management.
The colourful government’s Social Democratic coalition partner is also feeling the heat. The trigger was a media coaching session for an Austrian public media ORF interview with SPÖ leader and Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler, worth around €6,000, conducted by the agency bettertogether. What is even more embarrassing is that apparently Catherina Straub, former SPÖ communications director, holds a 25% stake in the same agency.
Freedom Party (FPÖ) General Secretary Michael Schnedlitz sees the case as exemplary of a “system of cronyism and self-service in the conservative environment.” The fact that a former party official is profiting from her agency’s participation in a taxpayer-funded contract for which her party leader is responsible is “a clear case of political immorality,” Schnedlitz stated.
