Interview with Brunner

“Decision between sides can only be a middle ground”

Magnus Brunner has been Federal Minister of Finance since December 6, 2021.

(Bild: Birbaumer Johanna)

ÖVP Finance Minister Magnus Brunner recently visited Tyrol and paid a visit to the "Krone" editorial office in Innsbruck. In a big interview, he talks about René Benko, tax relief, climate glue and his future, among other things.

"Krone": You recently said that when Germany has a cold, Austria gets the flu and when Germany has the flu, Austria gets pneumonia. Does our economy already have one?
Minister Magnus Brunner: No, of course this saying has a certain justification because we are very dependent on Germany. Germany is our biggest trading partner. But thank God we have managed to decouple ourselves somewhat. As far as growth forecasts are concerned, Germany is on a modest path at 0 to 0.2 percent for 2024. Experts see us growing by 0.5 to 0.6 percent. We have succeeded in decoupling thanks to structural reforms, such as the abolition of the cold progression. We must do everything we can to revive the economy and support growth. We are now trying this with the construction package. The last quarter of 2023 showed a minus of ten percent in the construction sector and we have to counteract this.

ÖVP Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (left) in conversation with Claus Meinert, Editor-in-Chief of "Tiroler Krone", and editor Manuel Schwaiger (right).

(Bild: Birbaumer Johanna)

Allegedly, only 25 percent of Austrians feel relieved by the abolition of cold progression.
We really need to do a better job of communicating this to the people. This is a reform of the century that has been discussed for 50 years. We have managed to ensure that people do not enter a new tax bracket every year when there is a pay rise. People are already feeling the effects of the 2023 tax adjustments. For 2024 alone, we are talking about a relief volume of around 3.6 billion euros. For this year, we have concentrated on tax relief for overtime and bonuses, weekend and dirt allowances for top performers. I would like companies to state this on their pay slips, then people would see it.

Speaking of performance: René Benko's Signa house of cards, which collapsed so spectacularly, must have been shaking for some time. Why wasn't this noticed earlier?
The measures taken by the financial administration, the anti-fraud authorities and the financial police have meant that it is now being meticulously investigated - thank goodness. It doesn't happen overnight and it takes time. But we have seen that our system does work.

We could certainly have understood a bankruptcy. Wolfgang Peschorn has also said this publicly, because bankruptcy proceedings would allow us to look into the details better and more closely.

Finanzminister Magnus Brunner

How long will that take?
That depends a lot on the bankruptcy administration. It was recently decided that there would be no bankruptcy. We would have been able to understand a bankruptcy. Wolfgang Peschorn has also said this publicly, because bankruptcy proceedings would allow us to look into the details better and more closely. This would make additional clarification work possible.

Benko has saved several million euros in corporation tax by relocating the company headquarters. The Innsbruck tax office has come under scrutiny. Is this a tax haven?
No, you always have to take a close look at everything if something has gone wrong. To put that into perspective a little: Of the thousands of companies in this Signa conglomerate, only 99 ended up moving to Innsbruck. This is recorded in the company register, there is a judge who checks this. So you have to be more realistic about it. The Financial Procurator's Office is working on this in detail and thus creating more transparency.

In difficult times, there are no supposedly simple solutions. The populists promise them, but they cannot be kept.

Finanzminister Magnus Brunner

You have expressed concern about political fringes that are brutalizing the language and spoken of a time of populists who promise a lot but deliver nothing.
Yes, and I really mean both fringes. In difficult times, there are no supposedly simple solutions. The populists promise them, but they cannot be kept. And they don't even present the supposedly simple solutions. I'm worried about the brutalization of language in politics as a whole. We also see this in the National Council sessions in parliament.

How do you deal with the KPÖ result in Salzburg?
Take it seriously and look at what the issues were. In Salzburg, it was very much about housing.

It is currently the same in Innsbruck. It is being exploited by 13 parties.
And it is also a very big challenge. That's why we presented the construction package accordingly. You can see that, firstly, affordable housing and, secondly, property acquisition are becoming increasingly difficult. With this package, we want to support non-profit housing construction and also the provinces with housing subsidies. We are also supporting quality with the craftsmen's bonus.

The Finance Minister answered questions in the "Krone" interview.

(Bild: Birbaumer Johanna)

It's not always easy with your coalition partner. You have said that environmental policy and economic policy should not be played off against each other.
That's right. If environmental policy, climate policy and energy policy don't go hand in hand with budget policy, it won't work out. That's why I didn't understand the fuss about the Ministry of Finance also taking care of climate policy. Of course we have to, because it's taxpayers' money. It has to be used as efficiently as possible.

To exaggerate, you could say that the climate stickers are not in the budget either, so they don't achieve much.
I agree with that. Whoever says A must also say B. If I go demonstrating on Friday, I also have to stand by the expansion of infrastructure, renewable energies and the grid expansion on Monday. You have to think things through to the end.

Austria alone will not be able to save the climate. Aren't there more important issues, such as housing and inflation?
Yes, but these issues can be linked. When it comes to housing, we can focus on renovation. Can Austria save the climate on its own? Of course not. But we can take advantage of the opportunities we see in the economy.

In some areas, we could perhaps have used common sense a little more.

Finanzminister Magnus Brunner

Looking back, would things have gone better with a different coalition partner? You get the feeling that the Greens care a lot about the environment, but economic issues are less important.
That's why, thank God, we are a major partner in the government. This federal government has made a lot of progress. Many tax cuts have been made in my area. Climate policy has also been implemented with common sense. In some areas, common sense could perhaps have been used a little more.

When the 2.2 billion euro construction package was decided, you said that it could be financed from the current budget, as it had been possible to create leeway in the past despite all the crisis costs. One has the feeling that the funding cornucopia filled with taxpayers' money is never empty. How much leeway does Austria still have?
What I meant specifically is that we can finance this from reserves. We don't have to open up the budget, we have divided it up very precisely. For example, the craftsmen's bonus is financed from the Ministry of Economic Affairs' reserves, the Ministry of Finance's reserves are used to finance special purpose grants to the federal states and the Ministry of Justice is responsible for the abolition of ancillary fees.

Magnus Brunner in the National Council.

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

What about the COFAG clawbacks? In 2021, 16.5 billion euros and in 2022 almost 19 billion euros were paid out to the companies to bridge the gap.
The resolution to wind up COFAG will hopefully be passed before the summer. Any claims will remain after the dissolution. Almost 98 percent of all payments have now been made. Of course, there are also cases where companies have received money incorrectly. Some have realized this themselves and have voluntarily repaid the money. A total of 134 million euros have been reclaimed so far, 80 of which have already been paid back.

The National Council is expected to be re-elected in the fall. What does the future hold for Magnus Brunner?
Our goal is for the next Federal Chancellor to be Karl Nehammer again. The choice between the two extreme sides Andreas Babler and Herbert Kickl can only be the middle and therefore Nehammer. I am extremely happy to do the job of Finance Minister and would like to continue. But of course that depends on the election result and the opportunities that arise afterwards.