SPÖ round-up

Election campaign, care and selling out the homeland

According to critics, the sale of the VAMED shares should take place in September.(Bild: JAKOB LANGWIESER)

Times are getting tougher in the political arena. "Hand out criticism and take it" is currently high culture. Now the Reds are forging ahead. The sale of the VAMED shares is still in the spotlight. 

The mood is tense ahead of the owners' meeting in the VAMED case on Monday. The assessment of the situation by the Anton Proksch Institute, one of Europe's leading addiction clinics, 60 percent of which is owned by VAMED and 40 percent by a foundation, is highly critical.

To date, the Board of Trustees, which includes representatives of the City of Vienna, the Chamber of Labor, the ÖGK and the Province of Burgenland, has not received any information or documentation on the rumored sale of the VAMED shares to the French private equity company PAI, as is noted with astonishment.

Heated debates about the sale of VAMED shares
"No meeting of the Board of Trustees has yet been announced, although the sale is due to take place at the end of September," points out SPÖ party chairman Roland Fürst, who sits on the committee for the state of Burgenland.

He wants to make a strong appeal to his colleagues on the Board of Trustees to also vote against the sale. At the initiative of the SPÖ party, a resolution against the sale of VAMED has already been passed by almost all parties in the state parliament session in June, with only the ÖVP voting against it.

I am using every opportunity to prevent the sale of sensitive healthcare infrastructure. Anything else would be fatal.

Roland Fürst (SPÖ), Mitglied im Kuratorium der Anton-Proksch-Stiftung

Bild: SPÖ Bgld.

Further turmoil surrounding VAMED
The political headwind from Burgenland has not only caused displeasure at VAMED AG and the parent company, there is also great anger at the Pannonian cross-shots around ÖBAG. "The fact is, privatization brings no improvement in the sensitive rehabilitation and care sector. On the contrary! Profit-oriented corporations are driving the sell-off," warns Fürst. The province of Burgenland will convert the entire care sector to non-profit status, he announces. "The federal government has the power to stop the sale of VAMED to a French hedge fund, but it is not doing so," rages Fürst.

"Burgenland not good enough for some politicians"
His successor as SPÖ regional manager, Jasmin Puchwein, has harsh words for the FPÖ. "Alexander Petschnig and Norbert Hofer are primarily aiming for offices in Vienna in the National Council elections. If they don't get their desired positions, Burgenland is good enough, so they are a stopgap." Puchwein's harsh criticism relates to information that is doing the rounds in the FPÖ. She is looking forward to the reactions.