Posse in the U-committee

Starting signal for the “election campaign committee” today

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

The very first day of questioning in the U Committee on possible abuse of power by the SPÖ and FPÖ degenerated into a farce. Peter Goldgruber, BMI Secretary General under Kickl, refused to testify. Members of parliament saw this as a "mockery of parliament". The bizarre appearance also led to debates about the subject of the investigation itself, which had already been disputed in advance.

• There was a bang at the beginning of the questioning of the third interviewee: Peter Goldgruber, Kickl's Secretary General in the Ministry of the Interior, refused to give any evidence and was punished for doing so. He considers the inquiry committee to be unconstitutional.
• ÖVP MP Klaus Fürlinger reacted angrily to this, saying that he was not entitled to such a judgment and that it was "cheeky".
• Instead of asking questions, the MPs then gave short presentations. The main topics discussed were the FPÖ's connections to Russia and controversial links to the Wirecard case.
• Prior to this, Wolfgang Peschorn gave an insight into the procurement of horses for the mounted police force initiated by Kickl. The horses were too big for the riders and the removal of faeces would have caused additional costs. Peschorn decided to stop the project.
• The second respondent, the head of Internal Audit at the Ministry of the Interior, was questioned about the awarding of contracts, a dubious consultancy contract and an unusually high number of employees in the cabinets. However, there were no explosive answers.

Curtain up for inquiry committee number two on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the Erwin Schrödinger Lokal of Parliament. The committee on "red-blue abuse of power" is also the unofficial start of the election campaign. The ÖVP is therefore particularly targeting the FPÖ, which is currently leading in all polls under party leader Herbert Kickl.

ÖVP parliamentary group leader Andreas Hanger lashes out at the FPÖ.

(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

"Hypocrisy and favoritism"
ÖVP MP Andreas Hanger, the Black parliamentary group leader on the U Committee, sees a "privilege stadium par excellence" among the blue party. He is particularly critical of Kickl's former Secretary General in the Ministry of the Interior, Peter Goldgruber, who is being questioned as the third respondent in the committee after Wolfgang Peschorn and another person. Goldgruber had "indulged himself" with three employees in the General Secretariat, each of whom is said to have earned up to 15,000 euros gross per month. 

Controversy over consultancy contract
In addition, the ÖVP - as the "Krone" already reported in advance - wants to address a dubious consultancy contract worth 10,200 euros gross per month, which, according to the People's Party, was allegedly concluded illegally, but in the end, according to the FPÖ, was not even valid. 

Contacts with Marsalek
All of this was recorded in an audit report from 2020, and the head of Internal Audit at the Ministry of the Interior is to provide information on the events on Wednesday as a third respondent. The infamous raid on the BVT in 2018 and close contacts between the alleged Russian spy Jan Marsalek and the Ministry of the Interior will also be addressed on Wednesday. In response to this accusation, the FPÖ refers to a dinner in May 2017 at which the then Interior Minister and current President of the National Council Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) also met with Marsalek.

However, the ÖVP also accuses the Freedom Party of "classic blue post haggling" - and even lashes out at politicians from Lower Austria, where they are known to govern together. For example, Christoph Luisser, now a regional asylum councillor in Lower Austria and then head of department under Secretary General Goldgruber in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, is said to have been appointed, although he was not the best candidate. Goldgruber is said to have intervened himself and provided information on this in the committee.

Lower Austrian state councillor Christoph Luisser

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

The official car that isn't one
As the "Krone" already reported in advance, the ÖVP is also interested in company cars - in particular that of Reinhard Teufel, then blue cabinet chief in the Ministry of the Interior, now club chairman in Lower Austria and Kickl's closest confidant. "Heads of cabinet are not actually entitled to a company car," explains Hanger, pointing out, however, that they have access to a fleet of so-called "pool cars". Teufel is said to have accumulated 95,000 kilometers within 18 months, but "he is not allowed to use the car for his other functions." While the ÖVP wants to look at the logbooks, the FPÖ refers to the former State Secretariat under the current ÖVP Minister Karoline Edtstadler. "The trips were, for example, visits to police inspections that the State Secretary did not want to make. The head of cabinet then visited these on her behalf," according to the FPÖ headquarters.

Committee unconstitutional?
Although, according to the official title, the U-Committee is concerned with clarifying whether public funds were used improperly "in the area of federal law enforcement", the People's Party also wants to continue to address the financial scandal of the FPÖ Styria, where taxpayers' money allegedly flowed into private pockets. As the "Krone" newspaper has learned, FPÖ leader Kickl, Styrian party leader Mario Kunasek and three other people connected to the financial scandal are to be summoned to the committee meetings in May. 

For the opposition, the entire committee of inquiry is therefore unconstitutional, but a corresponding application to the Constitutional Court failed. The NEOS see the inquiry committee starting on Wednesday as the ÖVP's payback for the COFAG committee, which the Pinken were also against. Nevertheless, they want to use both for serious clarification and also address appointments to posts by Peter Goldgruber on Wednesday, who has "delegated post shenanigans from above", according to NEOS MP Yannick Shetty. Purchases will also be discussed, such as expensive pens, uniforms and the infamous police horses. The first respondent on Wednesday, once again the head of the Procurator Fiscal's Office Wolfgang Peschorn, is to be questioned about advertising expenditure during the Bierlein government - which was lower than under previous governments.

Peter Goldgruber was Secretary General in the Ministry of the Interior under Herbert Kickl.

(Bild: APA/Herbert Neubauer)

While the first days of questioning were fairly civilized despite the occasional hiccup, there are fears that the second U-committee will be pure mud-slinging. The NEOS fear that the instrument of the committee of inquiry will be discredited.

The Greens are focusing on the former FPÖ Health Minister Beate Hartinger-Klein in the committee. According to parliamentary group leader Meri Disoski, the health insurance merger under the Turquoise-Blue government caused additional costs of 215 million euros instead of the promised billion euros for patients. This was accompanied by cover-up attempts in the Ministry of Health.

Sobotka is prevented
As with the first COFAG consultations, National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP), who actually chairs both committees, is also absent this week. He is being represented by ÖVP MP Wolfgang Gerstl. It is not known where Sobotka is. He is unable to attend due to "appointments", according to a brief statement from his office. No further details were given. According to a spokesperson for the parliamentary administration, these are not parliamentary appointments.