No matter how sonorous the “solo performance” of the chairman of the National Council was, the applause was restrained and the reproaches all the louder… Christian Drobits of the SPÖ spoke of an “unabashed cost explosion” in the Federal Chancellery.
The controversy surrounding a gilded piano never ends. National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) has placed the noble showpiece in the reception room of the renovated parliament in Vienna. After the sensational “overture” from critics of all political persuasions, National Council member Christian Drobits (SPÖ) continues to make sharp statements.
3000 euros rent per month
As reported, the rent for the glamorous Bösendorfer wing is 36,000 euros a year – at the taxpayer’s expense. “3000 euros a month, that corresponds to the existence of three citizens with a minimum pension or minimum income,” Drobits sarcastically remarks.
It does not necessarily have to be a “Sobotka wing” in gold, the SPÖ MP adds: “It is rather about the devastating image that the ÖVP gives to the outside world. Is that the timely message to the population as many people financially with your back against the wall?”
Piano for events
Naturally, the chairman of the National Council opposes the accusations. The reactions to the ÖVP’s criticism of the opposition that it was hostile to art were also not long in coming. “If Parliament needs a piano to musically accompany events, there is nothing wrong with that, but there is certainly something against this form of exaggeration,” emphasizes Drobits.
In the debate and government spending, Drobits goes one step further. He also accuses the Federal Chancellery of “unabashed cost explosion”. “The budget increases by 8.1 percent to 38.7 million euros, after former chancellor Kurz had previously awarded himself the largest budget in the second republic,” the SPÖ MP criticized. “The already inflated spending apparatus was taken over and even expanded. In times when people don’t know if they have a warm apartment, can go to work or buy food, it is equally inappropriate for the Chancellor’s Office to spend 85,000 euros a day,” Drobits denounces.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
