Burgenland SPÖ defends finances and sets autumn priorities

Burgenland’s SPÖ parliamentary group has presented its political priorities for the autumn, including a parliamentary inquiry committee and the state’s finances, ORF reported on Monday.

The SPÖ again criticised the Burgenland State Audit Office and its director, René Wenk. At a press conference, parliamentary group leader Roland Fürst said the office’s critical report on the state’s finances lacked comparisons with other federal states, which he said would place Burgenland “in the upper middle.” He accused Wenk of self-promotion and populism.

Fürst said the state’s finances were “demonstrably on solid footing” despite warnings from the audit office and the opposition. The SPÖ plans to present its case at a special session of the Burgenland state parliament on Wednesday. Fürst acknowledged that the figures in the audit report were correct, but criticised the lack of comparisons with other federal states as “unscientific, unreliable and invalid.”

He also rejected Wenk’s criticism of the early, discounted repayment of housing loans. About 13,000 people had saved nearly 85 million euros as a result, Fürst said. “That is not a loss for Burgenland. It is a gain for the population,” he said.

Fürst said Burgenland was spending money on residents in areas including care, healthcare, public transport and renewable energy, while making savings elsewhere. In July, the State Audit Office warned of an “acute and significant need for action” because the state’s reserves had been exhausted. It expects a cumulative overall loss of almost one billion euros between 2020 and 2026.

The SPÖ also plans to address a possible increase in the statutory retirement age at federal level. State parliament member Christian Drobits said there must be no such increase and argued that action should instead focus on the labour market, where employees aged over 55 were often “no longer needed and no longer wanted.”

Another autumn priority will be the findings of the parliamentary inquiry committee into the housing company Neue Eisenstädter. Fürst said the SPÖ wanted non-profit housing to regain greater importance.