Ludwig does not expect resignation of WKW President Ruck

Hattmannsdorfer responded on Tuesday with a written statement to APA regarding the attributed remarks. "Mit dem Vorwurf, ein hohes Arbeitstempo zu haben und inhaltlich gut vorbereitet zu sein, kann ich gut leben," the minister wrote. IV General Secretary Christoph Neumayer also stated that trust in Ruck was "zutiefst erschüttert," thereby implicitly agreeing with the call for resignation made by WKÖ President Martha Schultz on Monday.

Upper Austrian Governor Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) also rejected the attributed wording as "klar abzulehnen." Vienna's ÖVP chief Markus Figl expressed surprise at Ruck's "Tonfall" and his "Politikverständnis." The Social Democratic Economic Association Vienna (SWV Wien) indirectly called on Ruck to resign on Tuesday: "Er weiß, was jetzt zu tun ist."

Juraczka appointment and accusation of cronyism

At the center of the criticism is also the appointment of the former Vienna ÖVP chief Manfred Juraczka as the second managing director of Wirtschaftsagentur Wien. Ludwig rejected the accusation of cronyism: "Man kann auf jeden Fall nicht behaupten, dass das eine Freunderlwirtschaft gewesen wäre, denn man kann über Manfred Juraczka vieles sagen, dass er mein Freund wäre aber mit Sicherheit nicht." He pointed out that the Chamber of Commerce traditionally proposes the person to be appointed and that a legal opinion had deemed a formal tender not necessary.

However, Ludwig acknowledged that his own name also plays a role in connection with the Juraczka appointment in the leaked protocols. "Eine Ausschreibung sei nicht erfolgt, weil es ein Rechtsgutachten gegeben habe, dass das formal nicht notwendig sei," he said. He did not elaborate on previous tenders for similar appointments.

At the same time, Ludwig pointed to Vienna's economic record under the cooperation with Ruck: Vienna is the only federal state with three consecutive years of economic growth and has reached a record high of 945,000 employees. "Das zeigt ja auch die Bilanz, dass wir als einziges Bundesland drei Jahre hindurch ein Wirtschaftswachstum gehabt haben," Ludwig said.

Economic record and intraparty criticism

Ludwig acknowledged that the cooperation with Ruck is not uncontroversial within his party: "Er wird manchmal von seiner Partei kritisiert, ich werde manchmal auch von Teilen meiner Partei dafür kritisiert" and the cooperation is "in der SPÖ oder in der ÖVP nicht immer nur ‚positiv quittiert'" werde. Regarding the exact content of the conversations attributed to Ruck, Ludwig was reserved: "Ich kenne den Wortlaut dieser Gespräche nicht, ich war ja auch nicht dabei."

WKW Vice President Margarete Kriz-Zwittkovits, for her part, rejected the accusation that she had dropped a candidacy on Ruck's "Anordnung" in favor of a son of Ruck, and spoke in turn of a campaign against the WKW chief. Ruck had only recently been re-elected as head of the Vienna Economic Association (Wirtschaftsbund) with an overwhelming majority. The affair now also occupies the ÖVP Ethics Council as well as other federal and state party representatives.