Criticism of the Court of Audit – cheap SPÖ rents an impermissible party donation?

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Although rents have soared in recent years, the SPÖ pays even less rent for its party headquarters on Löwelstrasse than it did a few years ago. The Court of Auditors now suspects an impermissible party donation from the Municipality of Vienna – and considers the cheap rental impermissible. Now a party senate must investigate the historic leases.

The SPÖ has been located in Löwelstrasse, not far from Vienna City Hall, for decades, and pays about 12,000 euros per month for it. Since the rent is considerably lower than for comparable properties in the city center, the accountants consider an impermissible donation from the city of Vienna to the SPÖ and have reported the cause to the party senate in the chancery.

A rent reduction – two explanations
Another reason for the report of the Court of Audit to the “Independent Party Transparency Senate” (UPTS) in the Chancellery are different statements by the municipality and SPÖ about rent reduction. Mayor of Vienna Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) reported in May during a question-and-answer session in the city council that the already low rent was reduced from 13,600 to 11,982.18 euros after remeasurement of the property.

The federal SPÖ, on the other hand, denied the discount to the Court of Auditors (but confirmed the rental amount of 12,000 euros).

“Peace percentage” would be the deciding factor
Ludwig justified the relatively low rent by saying that the SPÖ in Löwelstraße had several historical leases dating back to 1946. The ‘peace rate’ applies to five contracts, which means that only EUR 2.39 per square meter has to be paid. For the other contracts, up to 11.21 euros would be owed.

Banned party donation?
So where the SPÖ refers to historic leases, the party senate now has to consider a possible illegal party donation. The Senate has already decided several times that making real estate available for a “reduced fee for unjustifiable reasons” constitutes a party donation.

And such party donations from the federal, state and local governments are prohibited. If the Senate agrees with the Court of Audit, the SPÖ threatens with a fine and a new, more expensive lease. Both the federal SPÖ (as main tenant) and the Vienna SPÖ are tenants in Löwelstrasse.

FPÖ sees “bang effect”
“We have always suspected that this cheapest rent is an illegal party financing of the SPÖ by the city of Vienna,” says Viennese FPÖ chairman Dominik Nepp about a “popping effect”.

“While the tenants of the municipal buildings are being scammed, the comrades live in the palace in the center of Vienna for a ridiculous price. This disgrace must be stopped immediately,” Nepp demands.

Illegal donation also at the FPÖ?
The Court of Auditors also reported two possible inconsistencies in the FPÖ’s balance sheet for 2020. It also concerns inadmissible donations: According to these, the Freie Landtagklub Oberösterreich paid for Facebook advertisements for the club president Herwig Mahr, some of which, however, did not provide information about the activities of the Landtag Club to have. From the Court’s point of view, the costs should therefore have been borne by the party.

Source: Krone

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