Expensive Office Outing

Chancellor Flew to World Cup Match with Ten Staff Members

Chancellor Stocker (left) was already getting in the mood for the Austria game with fans.(Bild: Mario Urbantschitsch)

Watching soccer at taxpayers’ expense? The Vice Chancellor set the precedent—now Chancellor Christian Stocker is following suit, accompanied by ten staff members to the U.S.

The Federal Chancellery is also caught up in soccer fever! And the anticipation for the trip to the U.S. must have been high. So great, in fact, that there must have been a scramble for tickets within the Chancellor’s Cabinet—otherwise, it’s hard to explain why ÖVP leader Christian Stocker was accompanied across the Atlantic by no fewer than ten of his staff members. Counting the Chancellor himself, that makes for quite a “national team” of their own.

Admittedly, “only” six staff members from the Chancellor’s Cabinet are traveling with him—a press officer, a social media manager, a technical assistant, and three policy advisors. That’s because Stocker, who has been in Texas since Saturday, is combining his visit to the World Cup game with important economic talks—after all, Texas is the eighth-largest economy in the world. On top of that, several staff members from the Chancellor’s Office itself are joining the trip. These include a photographer, security personnel, and staff from the protocol department, who are required to accompany the Chancellor on every trip abroad.

Babler (left) also flew to the U.S. with four staff members to watch the opening match with ÖFB President Pröll.(Bild: Andreas Babler)

Costs to taxpayers not yet known
Nevertheless: plane tickets, lodging, meals—all of this costs taxpayers money. And in times of budget constraints, such an “office outing” certainly doesn’t look good. Exactly how high the costs are, however, is not yet known. The FPÖ plans to address this with a parliamentary inquiry: “Making taxpayers foot the bill for this trip in times of rising inflation is unbelievable. Mr. Stocker and his friends can go anywhere they want, but they should pay for it themselves,” said FPÖ Secretary-General Michael Schnedlitz.

Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler’s trip to the World Cup had already drawn fierce criticism—the SPÖ leader watched the opening match against Jordan at a stadium in California with four staff members.