What experts think

Is the U-committee sinking into a memory dilemma?

June 2020: Sebastian Kurz testifies before the U Committee. In February 2024, he is found guilty of making false statements.

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Twelve days after the verdict against Kurz, the U-committee starts. Experts believe the questioning will be even tougher. 

The number 86 was exemplary for the Ibiza committee. The then Finance Minister Gernot Blümel had 86 gaps in his memory when he testified. He held the record, but was not convicted of making false statements. Kurz answered all questions in June 2020 - and was charged. The non-appealable conviction for making a false statement was handed down four days ago. The U committees start next week. How will the verdict affect the U Committee?

Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) at a U-committee

(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer)

The MPs do not expect any changes. SPÖ MP Jan Krainer does not expect any change in the behavior of the witnesses. "There are such and such witnesses, why should that change?" Nina Tomaselli (Greens) is counting on a strengthening of the parliamentary committees.

The lawyers see things differently. According to top lawyer Johannes Zink, the preparation of respondents has "literally become a new line of business". "We spend a week preparing our clients for a sub-committee. In the meantime, the risk of going unprepared to the sub-committee is too great," says lawyer Georg Eisenberger from Graz.

The path to politics is becoming even less attractive 
Eisenberger predicts that the ruling will make it even "more difficult to get results". The virus of the memory dilemma will spread. Political expert Thomas Hofer identifies another development: "The ruling has two sides. It contradicts the preconception that those at the top can fix things. On the other hand, it is another factor that makes the path into politics unattractive for ambitious people."