In connection with the VP advertising affair at federal level, the Greens and the FPÖ raised the subject yesterday in the Vienna City Council. With around 27 million euros, the city spends almost twice as much on advertising annually as the eight other federal states combined. Four million euros of this will go to the free newspaper “Austria”, say the Greens, who have therefore called for advertising to be stopped “until the allegations of corruption have been resolved”. The Greens called on Mayor Michael Ludwig (SP) to “stop corruption of advertisements and fudged surveys”. The FPÖ requested full transparency in the allocation of city advertisements.
In the federal government, Neos General Secretary Douglas Hoyos shot himself again at the ÖVP. Even after Sebastian Kurz’s retirement as Chancellor, “who you know and not what you can” count in the turquoise system when assigning posts.
The coalition, which has not delivered a new law on media and advertising transparency, accuses Hoyos of wanting to continue as before. The Neos demand full transparency in personnel decisions. This also applies to the parties’ expenses and income. In ministries, Hoyos wants everyone to have full insight into the award of contracts and all public tenders. For politicians and party employees, they want an 18-month cooling-off phase before switching to public service.
