Ecker re-elected to lead Lower Austria Economic Association

Wolfgang Ecker has been re-elected chairman of the Lower Austria branch of the Wirtschaftsbund business association, ORF reported. He received 88.7 percent of the vote at the association’s general assembly, where 150 delegates cast ballots.

Speaking after Thursday’s assembly in St. Pölten, Ecker said he accepted the result with gratitude but also saw it as a clear mandate. Businesses were under enormous economic pressure, he said, while the association itself also needed to continue developing.

Ecker announced a development process called “Rethinking WB Lower Austria”, intended in particular to involve younger members more closely and give them responsibility at an early stage. A newly appointed team of 12 Wirtschaftsbund officials and representatives under the age of 45 will accompany the process, question interim results and submit its own proposals.

Harald Servus, director of the Lower Austria Wirtschaftsbund, described Ecker’s re-election as a signal for the years ahead. “The next few years will not be plain sailing,” he said, adding that the association wanted to involve its members more closely in the renewal process.

Servus said the difficult economic conditions required a strong and reliable representative body that could achieve concrete improvements for businesses. He pointed to the agreed one-percentage-point reduction in ancillary wage costs from 2028 and the active pension as two longstanding Wirtschaftsbund demands that had recently been implemented. He said there was still much to do to reduce bureaucracy and strengthen competitiveness.

Those attending the assembly included Lower Austria Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Austrian Economic Chamber and Wirtschaftsbund Austria President Martha Schultz, Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, and State Secretary Elisabeth Zehetner.