What's Behind It

7 Fouls in 7 Days: ÖVP Attacks Marterbauer

Marterbauer will become vice chancellor in January.(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

Since completing his chemotherapy, Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer has been under fire from the ÖVP. In just seven days, he faced seven attacks from ÖVP politicians. For example, Lower Austria’s Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner called his support for an EU corporate tax “insane.” What’s behind these attacks?

The ÖVP’s most recent outbursts against the government member most popular with the public were in response to a 2020 proposal by the European Commission to introduce a Single Market Tax for corporations operating across Europe (CORE) in order to generate more own-resources for the EU. At the time, the EU Budget Commissioner was ÖVP politician Johannes Hahn.

EU Council President António Costa has revived this idea and, according to media reports, is expected to propose soon that companies with revenue exceeding 750 million euros pay a fee of 0.05 percent into the EU budget. For a revenue of 750 million, that amounts to 375,000 euros. Marterbauer expressed openness to this proposal and was attacked for it this week by EU Minister Claudia Bauer. Marterbauer’s stance, she said, is a “personal, individual opinion” that “burdens the economy and weakens Europe as a business location.”

I miss the prudence of former Social Democratic heavyweights like Hannes Androsch or former Chancellor Franz Vranitzky.

Landeshauptfrau Johanna Mikl-Leitner

State Governor Mikl-Leitner even called it “insanity.” She recommended that Marterbauer follow the example of former SPÖ heavyweights: “I miss the prudence of former Social Democratic heavyweights like Hannes Androsch or former Chancellor Franz Vranitzky. You can only redistribute wealth if you have a healthy economy.”

Governor Mikl-Leitner as a Provocateur(Bild: Attila Molnar)

In the debate over the abolition of the airline tax, the ÖVP really went after Marterbauer. Mikl-Leitner even accused him of playing with people’s livelihoods: “This is about the jobs of our fellow citizens; above all, it’s about livelihoods—and that’s why we need to get rid of this airline tax.”

State Secretary Elisabeth Zehetner spoke of a “class struggle debate.” Chamber of Commerce Secretary General Jochen Danninger said Marterbauer was weakening the business climate. Even Marterbauer’s State Secretary for Finance, Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, lashed out at the minister, urging him to engage in “less class struggle and more business-friendly policies.”

VPNÖ Caucus Chair Kurt Hackl described Marterbauer’s economic ideology as “devastating for the region” and accused him of solving economic problems ideologically rather than objectively.

There is a heated debate over the flight tax.(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

“Anyone who rises through the ranks in the SPÖ is attacked, from day one.”
The “Krone” asked around within the SPÖ. The attacks have not gone unnoticed within the party’s ranks. “This is a familiar old ÖVP pattern: Anyone who rises to a position of power in the SPÖ is attacked from day one,” said a longtime party official. Among other examples, he recalled Christian Kern, who was targeted at the time by Wolfgang Sobotka and Sebastian Kurz.