A portrait of Brunner

A sunny disposition and tennis fan as Commissioner

Austria's next EU Commissioner Magnus Brunner.

(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

ÖVP Finance Minister Magnus Brunner is nominated as the next EU Commissioner. His inconspicuous ox tour has paid off.

Magnus Brunner has made it. The federal government nominates him as a candidate for EU Commissioner in Brussels. One of the most astonishing political careers is thus heading towards its temporary climax. With a sunny disposition, the Vorarlberg native has managed to remain under the radar of media attention. The law graduate (University of Innsbruck, Kings College London) has business experience; he was Chairman of the Board of ÖMAG, the settlement agency for Ökostrom AG. 

Politically, the now 52-year-old began the ox tour early on: in 1999, as a trainee at the Federation of Austrian Industries, he organized a support committee for the election of Vorarlberg's Governor Herbert Sausgruber, after the election he became his office manager and press spokesman. He then moved to the Illwerke Group, an energy supplier with close ties to the state.

In 2009, Brunner took over the role of Vorarlberg member of the Federal Council from former Federal Councillor Jürgen Weiss, a political veteran of Vorarlberg. Nine years later, as Vice President of the Federal Council, he was primarily responsible for representation. When he became State Secretary for Mobility and Co. under Sebastian Kurz and ÖVP overseer in Leonore Gewessler's huge Ministry of Infrastructure in 2020, he was considered a political lightweight.

After a few months there, which were somewhat lackluster in terms of content, he surprisingly succeeded the resigned Finance Minister Gernot Blümel under the equally fresh Chancellor Karl Nehammer. He became a heavyweight overnight, and although he took away his own fiscal leeway with the abolition of cold progression, he achieved the most important reform in the ÖVP government team.

Brunner remained the modest Vorarlberger. A scooter accident on a busy evening made the headlines, as did the possibility of Nehammer succeeding him as ÖVP leader. These rumors are now over, tennis fan Brunner is going to Brussels. The fact that he was happy to deny possible career moves in personal conversations, citing his family and the distance to his home country: no problem. The competition portfolio that could await Brunner in Brussels is one of the more important ones in the Commission. Perhaps he will lose his smile in the fight against Silicon Valley companies and other "de facto monopolists".

„Krone“-Kommentar von Rainer Nowak

Der Kommissar, der die Steuern senkte

Who is Ursula von der Leyen? The Commission President wants two names from every country that has not yet nominated a candidate, one female and one male. To prevent the Commission from becoming a male party. What does the government do? Nominates a man.

Comments on the current political situation: "Krone" super-press director Rainer Nowak

(Bild: Reinhard Holl, Krone KREATIV)

Criticism of the appointment from the opposition parties is naturally loud. Brunner is Mr. Deficit, it sounds from the right and the left. That is hypocritical. In fact, this government has spent more money than any before it. Gernot Blümel's "whatever the cost" mantra in response to the short-term economic standstill at the start of the pandemic hardly found any critics at the time. On the contrary: the opposition parties could not move fast enough with the billions in injections. The fact that Brunner also tried to combat inflation and the energy crisis with bonuses and billions was also demanded by almost all parties - mostly with the exception of the NEOS.

If Brunner had done what he should have done, i.e. counteracted the budget and put together an austerity package, the uproar and criticism would have been even louder. Brunner is a professionally experienced, pragmatic and honest candidate of whom Austria need not be ashamed. That is not nothing.

What really remains of him in Austria: debts that the next government will have to tackle. Above all, however, the abolition of taxes, i.e. cold progression, which generations of taxpayers should be happy about.