Question in Parliament

Figures for Schönbrunn aquarium to be put on the table

Tiergarten director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck is now to be forced to provide the transparency that others take for granted with a parliamentary question from the Greens to the Ministry of Economics.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

Schönbrunn Zoo director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck wants to start building his aquarium soon. But he is still withholding data on costs, permits and more. A parliamentary question is intended to change this - and also provide a lead to a mysterious gap in the zoo's balance sheet.

It is probably the most opaque aquarium in the world: even the key data on the new building that Schönbrunn Zoo Director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck wants to build with his intimate Sezai Candan from next year and open in 2028 is still unknown: Does Hering-Hagenbeck even have the necessary permits? And how much will it cost? As Hering-Hagenbeck itself refuses to provide any answers, the Greens now want to know from its "superior": the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The calculation cannot be correct
Hering-Hagenbeck has so far avoided answering all these questions. With regard to the costs, for example, it was vaguely stated that they would remain at the 36.7 million euros of the tender, but "plus indexation". That alone cannot be true: Only after the contract was awarded to Hering-Hagenbeck's ex-company partner Candan in a freestyle competition that competitors found farcical was Candan given the Viennese architect Manfred Wehdorn to assist him. He "doesn't work for free, of course", as he told "Krone".

Despite repeated parliamentary inquiries, Minister of Economic Affairs Kocher and zoo director Hering-Hagenbeck have yet to provide further answers on the conservation aquarium.

Elisabeth Götze, Wirtschaftssprecherin Grüne im Nationalrat

Bild: Die Grünen

Elisabeth Götze, economic spokesperson for the Green Party in parliament, has already tried several times to get to the bottom of the aquarium project with parliamentary questions. The answers from the Ministry of Economic Affairs have always been vague. With the new question shortly before the planned start of construction, she wants to get the ministry and the zoo to finally put the facts on the table and either say how much the project will really cost - or admit that they don't know.

Yes or no?
Götze wants to block the ministry's path to excuses with as many yes/no questions as possible, such as: "Can the stated costs of 36.7 million euros plus indexation be adhered to?" and whether "the costs of Wehdorn Architekten Ziviltechniker GmbH are already included". They also demand that the reasons for Hering-Hagenbeck's contract extension until 2029 only last summer be stated, as well as those for an "interruption" in the appointment process shortly beforehand.

In addition, the Greens want to solve a mystery that has accompanied Hering-Hagenbeck since he took office in 2020: The balance sheet is still missing for that year - the only one. And it was precisely this year that Hering-Hagenbeck's predecessor Dagmar Schratter disposed of the aquarium project, which had already been paid for and approved. The Greens do not want to rest until these annual accounts are available to the public. Perhaps it will finally be possible to reconstruct from the money flows this year why the project of his intimate Candan and Hering-Hagenbeck's own ex-company is now being built.