FPÖ under pressure

Maurer against Kickl: “Pupils, not the people’s chancellor”

The parties took aim at the FPÖ in the National Council and Kickl used the opportunity for an all-round attack.

(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer, Krone KREATIV)

The current espionage scandal surrounding former BVT official Egisto Ott caused heated discussions in the National Council on Wednesday. The FPÖ, in particular, got its comeuppance - especially because of the allegedly canceled friendship treaty with Putin's United Russia party. However, the People's Party also had to face massive attacks in the debate.

The ÖVP used the "current hour" it had requested on the subject of state security at the start of the National Council session to launch another frontal attack on the FPÖ and its leader Herbert Kickl. In unison with the Greens, they accused Kickl of willfully dismantling the state security service. The FPÖ, SPÖ and NEOS, on the other hand, also saw the ÖVP as responsible.

ÖVP: "FPÖ is a Russia Trojan"
 At the beginning of the debate, ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker launched an all-round attack on the Freedom Party. He once again accused Kickl of having destroyed state security during his time in office as Interior Minister. It was now clear that a network around the alleged spy Egisto Ott had provided the basis for the raid on the BVT and that this network had close links to the FPÖ.

"The FPÖ is in reality the Russian Trojan in Austria," Stocker said. EU top candidate Reinhold Lopatka (ÖVP) warned that the affair was doing enormous damage to Austria's reputation.

"We must ensure that you never get into such a position again", Maurer railed against former Interior Minister Kickl.

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Maurer: "Unfortunately, unfortunately, the FPÖ can never find a contract again"
 Green Party leader Sigrid Maurer also criticized the "wanton dismantling of state security" as a result of the surprise raid under Kickl as Interior Minister. She once again accused the FPÖ of having close ties to Russia and referred to the friendship treaty with Putin's United Russia party.

However, the FPÖ could now "unfortunately, unfortunately never find the treaty in its own documents", said Maurer: "Kickl would love to be 'People's Chancellor', but here in parliament he is acting more like a primary school pupil, who loyally explains that the dog has eaten the homework."

Meinl-Reisinger: "Kickl is up to his neckin Russian water"
 NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger adopted a similar tone: "Kickl is whining in parliament because he is up to his neck in Russian water. Basically quite simple: either the FPÖ and he knowingly agreed to be of service to Russia or they naively allowed themselves to be instrumentalized."

Kickl wants "disastrous situation" cleared up
FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, who had himself added to the list of speakers at short notice, angrily rejected all accusations and described the debate as an "hour of disinformation and fake news". At the time he took office as Interior Minister, the BVT was a "neglected, run-down institution" characterized by sloppiness.

Kickl railed that the ÖVP had created the breeding ground for the outflow of information in the first place.

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

This "disastrous state" was the result of decades of ÖVP responsibility in this area, which had thus prepared the "breeding ground" for the outflow of information.

Krisper: ÖVP is "putting away children"
 But the FPÖ was not the only target of the attacks; the ÖVP also had to put up with a lot from the SPÖ and NEOS. SPÖ MP Reinhold Einwallner spoke of an "undignified spectacle" in which the FPÖ and ÖVP, who have led the Ministry of the Interior for 24 years, were now shifting responsibility back and forth. Like the NEOS and FPÖ, the SPÖ recalled that the ÖVP had publicly supported the BVT raid at the time.

"It is unbelievable how they are rewriting history and shirking responsibility," said NEOS member Stephanie Krisper, accusing the ÖVP of "child abandonment". After all, it was the ÖVP that brought the FPÖ into government and also allowed Kickl to become Interior Minister.

Karner sees state security intact again
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) tried to calm things down. State security in the form of the BVT successor organization, the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN), was "now functioning again", he affirmed. Connections to international partners were also intact again after the international isolation due to the unlawful house search at the BVT under Interior Minister Kickl, said Karner.