The Big Interview – What’s Happening to Our Money, Mr. Brunner?

Friday, early evening in the Palais Questenberg-Kaunitz at Johannesgasse 5. It is the last appointment for Magnus Brunner that day, later he has “childcare” with the youngest. “You are no longer allowed to call an eight-year-old babysitter,” the minister laughs.

We are in the smallest of all ministerial offices, but it has a star parquet floor and baroque frescoes on the ceiling. At the inaugural lecture last December, there were still moving boxes and the cross of his predecessor hung on the wall. “Gernot Blümel picked it up, now mine is hanging there,” says Brunner. As so often he wears a white handkerchief, white shirt and pink tie with his suit.

„krone“: Minister, you are known for your calm, polite manner. Do you cry too?
Magnus Brunner: no Not private and certainly not professional. But I understand why you’re asking.

In an interview, the mayor of Vienna quoted the saying “If you shout into the forest, it echoes out”. And, when asked about the tense relationship between Vienna and the federal government, says that one does not shout into the woods, but shouts into it.
I can’t understand that at all. No one shouted last weekend when Wien Energie asked the federal government for help. We discussed a dramatic situation very calmly and objectively.

How do you explain that?
I can not explain. We were really quite surprised that we had to negotiate this at the official level. Because as a republic, we can only help the city of Vienna, not any company. That is why the city of Vienna is our point of contact. Chancellor, Minister of Finance and Minister of Energy were among us. From the city of Vienna, at the political level, neither city councilor Peter Hanke, nor mayor Michael Ludwig.

Ludwig says it’s not that dramatic, the call for funds is “a perfectly normal process”.
But the federal government didn’t invent the drama. This was described to us by Wien Energie and the city of Vienna itself. Wien Energie’s documents literally state that there is a risk that two million contracts will have to be cancelled. Thank goodness it didn’t come to that.

Now the SPÖ is accusing you of insulting this emergency situation of Wien Energie in the “ZiB”. You stood in the semi-darkness, it seemed almost eerie.
Unfortunately I can’t do anything about the lighting. – (struggles with a smile.) – To clarify. There was a summit that the city council did not attend. Everyone was working on a solution for the city of Vienna. During this session, krone.at reported that there was a need for billions. Then if a camera team asks me to go to the Chancellery, I won’t hide it. After all, initially it was about ten billion, most recently about two billion euros, which are not usual amounts. But I would have preferred that we could have discussed it together in all objectivity and then communicated together.

Would you say again that there was “suspected speculation” involved?
Supposed or suspected, there isn’t much difference. Maybe I should have said: Experts assume it’s speculation.

Wien Energie emphasizes that there is no speculation. A “tsunami” broke over the company.
I don’t know of any tsunami that hits just one house. Even a “Black Friday” wouldn’t affect just one company. And I don’t know about the difficulties of other companies.

So claimed SPÖ chairman Pamela Rendi-Wagner in the ORF “summer talk”.
That is an interesting statement to say the least. If that were the case, then the Treasury should really be aware of it. I don’t want to be in the situation where I have to rescue another company within 48 hours.

Are you afraid that more money is needed?
I assume that is not the case. If there are other needs, we just have to sit down again.

After the billion dollar gap, the ÖVP sent letters pointing out the shortcomings of “red Vienna”. The charge is that you would abuse the emergency for partisan political staging.
I do not know this letter. I am also not responsible for party headquarters communications.

I like to read the text.
No not necessary. I see absolutely no partisan staging here. It is not about small political changes, but a lot of tax money.

How would you explain to your eight-year-old son how much money two billion is?
Since he lives in Vorarlberg, I’d tell him that’s as much money as the entire state of Vorarlberg needs in one year. And that this money belongs to the taxpayers of the Republic of Austria.

Vorarlbergers are seen as frugal people. What does such a thing do to the Alemannic soul?
Such a high amount hurts the Alemannic soul as a whole. However, I assume that the City of Vienna will of course repay this amount, which was agreed at the end of April 2023.

Many people wonder what is happening to our money right now. Here, two billion are simply released, and the pensioners save again.
That was an absolutely special case, not an everyday bank transaction. Two billion is a lot of money. However, this concerns about two million customers. We had to help quickly to prevent something worse from happening. Incidentally, we use the tax money for various aid packages that are intended to help people get by in this inflation. All in all, with 32 billion euros, we are ahead of a European comparison, also in terms of speed. Only one country spends more per capita. As Finance Minister, I naturally hope that the situation will ease somewhat next year. We must return to sustainable budgets as soon as possible, also to create room for crisis situations. If we didn’t have that leeway, we wouldn’t be able to support the population to this extent.

Hannes Androsch says the federal government, like Germany or Italy, should have set up an energy procurement fund long ago. This could better absorb the price spikes. Is he right?
Sure, you can have the protective shield debate. We are ready for that too. You just have to know that the city of Vienna may not have fallen under this protective umbrella. First you should have checked all trades to rule out speculation. The desire for a protective shield only emerged from the energy sector last weekend. If you want to talk about it, welcome!

Are you actually happy to be Minister of Finance in such a challenging time?
There is a Chinese proverb that means, “May you live in interesting times.” They don’t have to be that interesting now. (laughs)

Do you already know the latest rumor?
Which?

That you should inherit ÖVP boss Karl Nehammer.
I read it somewhere and also spoke to the chancellor about it. We both know that’s not up for debate at all. From my point of view, it was a classic tale of a summer slump. We have an excellent Chancellor and I am happy to be Minister of Finance at his side.