Harnessed protest

Mayor clashes with the head of the Court of Audit

After the Court of Audit's criticism of too much asphalt in the city, President Kraker and Mayor Schneeberger will probably no longer be friends.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Wolfgang Spitzbart, Rechnungshof/Vyhlanek, Patrick Huber)

State auditors criticized too much soil sealing and too little climate protection in Wiener Neustadt. The salty response came in the form of a bitterly angry letter from the town hall. 

Some explosive mail from Wiener Neustadt landed on Margit Kraker's desk in Vienna these days. Mayor Klaus Schneeberger has vented his anger in a letter to the President of the Court of Audit following the critical audit report on the city's climate protection measures. And he did it properly.

Lots of concrete, little green
In Schneeberger's opinion, the auditors had "exceeded the limits of the Court of Audit's constitutional duties". As reported, the Court of Audit auditors took aim at the Ostumfahrung and Maximilium construction projects in terms of soil sealing. They also criticized the lack of climate protection measures.

All approvals
Schneeberger rejects this point by point. The eastern bypass had received the necessary approvals in all instances. The Maximilium on the former Leiner site is not a municipal construction project and is being built on land that is already sealed.

It is not the Court of Audit's job to conduct political debates or make unrealistic demands.

Klaus Schneeberger, Bürgermeister von Wiener Neustadt

Dispute about a sense of proportion
"What is particularly worrying," says Schneeberger, "is that the report calls for excessive investment." This is because it lists climate measures "of at least 100 million euros". This is an "unrealistic expectation" with which the Court of Audit contradicts itself and loses "a sense of reality".