“In order to return to objectivity and to draw attention to the challenges necessary for the business location,” the decision was made to resign, it said in a broadcast yesterday. The Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund had generously transferred money to the state party: 400,000 euros in 2014 , 500,000 in 2019. Now the advertising business of the Economic Association is having its first personal consequences: Economic Chamber President and Economic Association Chairman Hans Peter Metzler and the much-criticized Economic Association Director Jürgen Kessler announced their resignation on Friday.
Reorganization of content and personnel
According to Wallner, the Wirtschaftsbund-Zeitung will also be discontinued with immediate effect ÖVP Chairman and Governor Markus Wallner. The economic association will be reorganized in terms of content and personnel, the personal union of chamber president and economic association chairman should be history. The decision about the successor will be made “very quickly”.
In the “heated mood” he took a few days to first check the facts, Wallner justified his days of silence, which was criticized by many. “I think the resignations are right, that’s a very consistent attitude. Responsibility was taken on,” commented Wallner and regretted that the result of the tax audit for a final assessment is not yet available. It is still the case that the results of this review are to be implemented. “If there is an additional payment, it will be paid,” said the governor.
“That is not my style”
Wallner was dissatisfied with the picture that the ÖVP and its sub-organization have given in the past few days. This picture needs to be corrected. “I don’t want that, it’s not my style,” he emphasized. The resignations now offer the possibility of a reorganization in the Economic Association, “in terms of content and personnel”. “The newspaper will be discontinued. This advertising system will no longer exist, nobody needs it, not even for financing. It has to be properly processed,” explained Wallner.
The relationship between the Economic Association and the Economic Chamber must also be sorted out. In the future, there should no longer be a personal union in the functions of President of the Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Economic Association, “there has to be a strict separation”. A decision on Metzler’s and Kessler’s successors will be made very quickly.
“Speculations and Misinterpretations”
The media reporting on the tax treatment of the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund has “led to a number of irritations and is room for speculation and misinterpretation in public,” said Metzler and Kessler in their statement. that the activities of the Wirtschaftsbund are to be subsumed under the usual party activities and therefore no sales tax or corporation tax is to be paid. “After an assessment by the tax authorities that deviates from this assessment, the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund will of course take this into account after the conclusion of the tax audit procedure,” said Metzler and Kessler with.
Conduct according to the association law
They also denied that they had not behaved in accordance with the association law. In accordance with the statutes, general assemblies were held at regular intervals, decisions were made there, the officials and employees were relieved and the association authorities were informed. “As a sub-organization of the Vorarlberg People’s Party, we support the party in terms of content and finances. In this context, we would like to clearly emphasize that the Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund has complied with the legal regulations, in particular with all financial support provided to the state party,” continued Metzler and Kessler.
Metzler will also resign from his position as President of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Commerce and ensure an orderly handover.
Resignations “long overdue”
The resignations do not come as a surprise and are “long overdue”, according to the SPÖ. The public pressure has also increased due to the opposition, explained SPÖ mandatary Manuela Auer. But the fundamental problem is not solved: “There are still allegations of indirect party financing. As long as the ÖVP does not openly and transparently comment on the allegations, the withdrawal of these two people will remain a mere pawn.”
The Vorarlberger Wirtschaftsbund has been criticized since a tax audit became known. For money that was transferred to the ÖVP state party, the Economic Association, as a sub-organization of the ÖVP, had recently – as has been customary – not paid any VAT. A tax rate of five percent was applied to advertisements sold in the members’ magazine “Vorarlberger Wirtschaft”. Both are questioned and checked by the tax office. As a “precautionary measure”, the Economic Association filed a voluntary disclosure. What began as a tax stirrer has developed into an affair related to the ÖVP party financing in the past few days, since state companies and ÖVP supporters have also advertised in the newspaper and chamber officials are said to have been pressured to place advertisements.
Source: Nachrichten
