Close Ties with Ludwig

Ruck: “Well, I can easily get you 500 million euros”

Walter Ruck (left) with Michael Ludwig: “If the SPÖ wants to maintain its dominant position, then …”(Bild: SEPA Media)

After the bombshell in the ÖVP: How Vienna Chamber of Commerce boss Walter Ruck claims to have mulled over creative business plans with his friend Michael Ludwig while traveling. 

In the transcripts of conversations published by “Krone” and “profil,” Walter Ruck, the ÖVP-affiliated president of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, repeatedly expresses concern about the Vienna SPÖ. At one point, he says the ÖVP has no interest whatsoever in fielding a mayoral candidate. Elsewhere, he first offers helpful advice and then explains: “If the SPÖ wants to maintain its dominant position, then it will have to think this way.” Statements like these naturally rub Ruck’s party colleagues in the ÖVP the wrong way—and now, as “Krone” reported, he faces expulsion from the ÖVP.

“Michi and I”
Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig recently gave Ruck the cold shoulder. The two men are close friends. In the fall of 2022, shortly after the city-owned Wien Energie had run into massive financial difficulties at short notice, they traveled to Berlin and apparently visited the Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe), as another episode from the recordings shows.