Burgenland's Court of Audit warns of empty coffers and growing debt

At its core is an income statement that reported revenue of 1.46 billion euros for 2023, against expenses that led to a loss of just under minus 90 million euros. Previous years had also shown annual losses, and further negative results are expected for 2025 and 2026. "Rechnet man diese von 2020 bis 2026 zusammen, kommt man auf einen Gesamtverlust von 1 Mrd. Euro," the report states.

Exhausted reserves

The BLRH documents a dramatic depletion of reserves: the state's liquid funds still amounted to over 300 million euros in 2021, fell to around 220 million euros by the end of 2023, and were nearly exhausted in 2024 and 2025. BVOG funds as another financial investment also fell to 105 million euros by the end of 2023. "Das Land hat die Reserven aufgebraucht," the BLRH found.

At the same time, debt via the Austrian Federal Financing Agency (OeBFA) grew significantly: while loans stood at 236 million euros in 2020, they were around 220 million euros at the end of 2023 and rose to 610 million euros by 2025. Wenk said: "Überhaupt sei der Handlungsspielraum für die Zukunft sehr eingeschränkt, die Aufnahme weiterer Fremdmittel werde notwendig sein, um die Liquidität zu erhalten."

In 2025, the state had to resort to short-term bank financing of 50 million euros via a cash advance, "um Rechnungen bezahlen zu können," according to the BLRH. In June, liabilities of 50 million euros were repaid, with a further repayment of 80 million euros pending. The repayment will be financed, among other things, from the sale of housing construction loans.

Sale of housing construction loans

With the sale of the housing promotion loans, the state has disposed of its "letztes Tafelsilber," according to the BLRH. The housing construction loans are worth a total of one billion euros, but the state only expects proceeds of 650 million euros in its budget. Wenk said: "Man kann sagen, das letzte Tafelsilber wurde dann verwertet."

The BLRH also criticizes the fact that the state gave up part of the value when selling the housing construction loans. In 2026, borrowers were offered early repayment at a 25 percent discount, meaning they only had to repay 75 percent of the outstanding amount. The state is foregoing money, "die es damit künftigen Generationen entzog." In addition, the loss is being "vergessen" in the state budget.

Participations and liabilities

The state's participations are also coming into focus. At the end of 2023, the state counted 166 participations; payments from the state to these companies rose from 248 million euros in 2020 to 603 million euros in 2024. In total, around 2.17 billion euros flowed to state-owned companies during this period. Wenk spoke of debt in the state-owned companies that had risen "rasant." Liabilities for outsourced debt reached 1.38 billion euros at the end of 2023 and rose to 1.56 billion euros by 2024. "Für den Großteil dieser Schulden und ihre Rückzahlung haftet das Land," the report states.

The BLRH sees "weiterhin unklare Vermögenspositionen ohne entsprechende Wertberichtigungen" and notes that the state had reported assets "mit fraglicher Existenz": "Die genaue Vermögenslage blieb für den BLRH daher weiterhin unklar." Deficiencies from the 2020 opening balance also persisted through the 2023 annual financial statement and beyond.

Rating and transparency

On the rating, the BLRH attests to a lack of transparency on the part of the state. Until October 2024, the state proudly communicated the reports from Standard & Poor's with the annually unchanged rating of "AAA/Stable/A-1+". In April 2025, the rating agency changed the outlook to "AA/Negative/A-1+". "Dieses Ergebnis veröffentlichte das Land nicht mehr," the Court of Audit notes curtly. Wenk criticized: "Wenig transparent agiere das Land auch bei der Veröffentlichung der Ratings von Standard & Poor's."

In the 2026 state budget, the BLRH sees several "Auffälligkeiten": a decrease in personnel expenses of 30 million euros is budgeted, while current expenses rise by 26 million euros. Dividend payments from the state holding of 60 million euros in a "nie da gewesenen Dimension" are planned. "Deutliche Abweichungen" between budgets and actual developments raise "Fragen zur Qualität der Budgetplanung"; Wenk insisted on "bessere Planungsgenauigkeit."

Reactions from politics and the state

The BLRH also rebuts the state's argument "von sinkenden Ertragsanteilen des Bundes": these have risen continuously by 195 million euros from 2020 to the end of 2024. The deficit is therefore home-made. With a view to the Maastricht criteria, Wenk recommended "Politik zu überdenken und einen gewissen Spar-Gedanken zu verinnerlichen."

Given the precarious situation, the state should "seine ausgabenseitige Politik überdenken," the chief auditor urgently calls for a "Richtungswechsel." Either the state pursues a "verantwortungsvolle Finanzpolitik," to which all governmental bodies have committed themselves, or it acts according to the motto "Hinter mir die Sintflut." Wenk's conclusion: "Wir sehen dadurch einen akuten und erheblichen Handlungsbedarf für das Land."

Open questions on further use

The state of Burgenland rejected the criticism in a response and pointed to "stabile Landesfinanzen" and debt reduction that had "bereits voll angelaufenen." It said it could not understand the BLRH's criticism of the decline in liquid funds, as this measure had been an earlier BLRH recommendation: "Die Zahlungsfähigkeit des Landes war dabei jederzeit gewährleistet. Ausreichende Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten und Kreditrahmen standen laufend zur Verfügung." Referring to the coronavirus pandemic and the energy crisis, the state complained that the BLRH was ignoring the crisis years. The BLRH's conclusions would "über den eigentlichen Prüfungsauftrag hinausgehen." It also pointed to the "Finanzstabilitätspaket 2026" and the Burgenland Budget Stability Act, with which concrete measures for further debt reduction had already been taken. This year and next year, debts of over 200 million euros are to be repaid from the sale of housing construction loans.

Political reactions were sharp. Finance Councillor Hans Peter Doskozil did not comment and is not mentioned in the releases from the state or the SPÖ club. SPÖ club chief Roland Fürst attacked the messenger of bad news: the Burgenland Court of Audit was, in proportion to the population, "der teuerste Rechnungshof mit dem meisten Personal österreichweit: Niemand verbietet unserem LRH, die guten Tipps beim Einsparen bei sich selbst anzuwenden – das würde die Glaubwürdigkeit der Aussagen deutlich erhöhen." The opposition parties FPÖ and ÖVP see an "alarmierendes Bild der finanziellen Lage" of the state in the report. FPÖ club chairman Christian Ries stated that the current report confirms "jene Fehlentwicklung, auf die wir Freiheitliche seit Jahren hingewiesen haben."

This year and next year, debts of over 200 million euros are to be repaid from the sale of housing construction loans, of which 200 million euros this year. Whether the remaining projected 450 million euros from the sale of housing promotion can indeed flow largely into the expansion of healthcare facilities, as Governor Doskozil has promised, is doubted by Wenk: "Zumindest ein Teil werde wohl zur Tilgung der Finanzschulden gebraucht."