Vienna Chamber Chief Ruck Incriminates Himself with Leaked Protocol

According to the protocol, Ruck describes a meeting with Mayor Michael Ludwig at the Schweizerhaus restaurant, at which he proposed Juraczka for the position of second managing director of the Wirtschaftsagentur Wien. Ludwig is said to have then asked Finance City Councillor Barbara Novak (SPÖ) with the words: "Der Präsident hat einen Vorschlag gemacht, sag bitte nicht gleich Nein." Novak is said to have reacted to the name Juraczka with "Na dann!"

Ruck is also said to have acknowledged in the conversation that Juraczka had been "irgendwie ein bisschen frustriert, ehrlich gesagt, von der neuen Führung und mit den ganzen Buben, die da drin sind." Juraczka had previously been the Vienna ÖVP chief before he gave up his city council mandate and was appointed without a public tender as the second managing director of the Wirtschaftsagentur Wien. According to the Wiener Zeitung, the position was never publicly advertised.

Reactions from City Hall and the Chamber

A spokesperson for the mayor explained that Juraczka's appointment had been made by a resolution of the board, which had been based on a unanimous resolution of the presidium. "Die Bestellung von Manfred Juraczka erfolgte durch einen Beschluss des Vorstandes, und dem lag ein einstimmiger Präsidiumsbeschluss zugrunde." At the same time, the mayor's office referred to an established practice: "im Sinne des Gründungsgedankens der Wirtschaftsagentur Wien gelebte Praxis ist, dass die Wirtschaftskammer Wien den zweiten Geschäftsführer vorschlägt."

Ruck's spokesperson rejected the account and stated upon inquiry: "Nein, diese Aussagen können wir nicht bestätigen." The matter was a "parteiinterne Angelegenheit." Ruck himself conceded in the protocol: "Ich bin aus der Zeit gefallen."

Further Explosive Passages in the Protocol

In addition to the Juraczka appointment, the protocol contains further explosive passages. Ruck is said to have proposed naming a place in Vienna after the Jewish journalist, women's rights activist, and city councillor Anitta Müller-Cohen. To Ludwig's question "Meinst du das jetzt ernst?" Ruck is said to have answered: "Michi, ich liebe jüdische Frauenrechte. Aber das kann keiner buchstabieren." In fact, an "Anitta-Müller-Cohen-Platz" exists in Vienna at the apprentice testing center of the Wirtschaftskammer Wien; however, the official street designation is "Straße der Wiener Wirtschaft".

In the transcript, Ruck also describes his strategy toward the ÖVP: "Wenn die ÖVP ein bisschen zu keck wird, dann kommt der Wirtschaftskammerpräsident, macht zweimal 'Wumm', und es ist wieder Ruhe." For Juraczka's soon-to-be-vacant city council seat, he had favored the farmers' league representative Martin Flicker in order to form "eine super Achse," thereby prevailing against a female ÖVP business functionary.

Ruck also made disparaging remarks in the conversation about working with women: "Heast, ich will nicht mit einer Frau. Da kann ich nicht in den Weinkeller runtergehen, was ist des?" Ruck owns a wine cellar in Weihburggasse in the first district. profil has been reporting on Ruck's methods and the accumulation of offices in his family since the beginning of the year.

Persons and Constellations

Juraczka, who according to his own statements in the transcript is 56 years old, was previously managing director for two companies of multimillionaire Siegfried Wolf. He is said to have expressed reservations in the conversation about running again for a mandate in the 2030 Vienna election at the age of 61: "Heast, ich bin 56 Jahre alt, und dann kann ich mit 61 noch einmal rennen, ob ich ein Mandat krieg (bei der Wienwahl 2030, Anm.). Ehrlich gesagt, ich will nicht mehr."

Ruck is said to have compared politics to a casino game in the conversation and bragged about his influence on the Vienna ÖVP. He is said to have convinced Ludwig with the image of a game for the gallery and a real game: "Es gibt ein Spiel für die Tribüne, und es gibt ein Echtspiel. Und er (Ludwig, Anm.) hat dann so auf die Art gesagt: 'Wenn du das willst.'"

The Wirtschaftskammer Wien is a public-law self-governing body; membership in the Wirtschaftskammer is mandatory for every company in Austria. Ruck heads the chamber as president. The Wirtschaftskammer Wien recently moved into the "Haus der Wiener Wirtschaft." Barbara Novak's predecessor as finance city councillor was Peter Hanke, who is now SPÖ federal infrastructure minister. The ÖVP club chairman in the Vienna Landtag, Harald Zierfuß, is 26 years old.

Independently of the Ruck affair, the day before the transcript was published, the head of the Vienna market office, Andreas Kutheil, resigned following severe accusations from his staff regarding sexism, racism, and mobbing.