What did the FPÖ leader know?

Hanger: “Kickl either incompetent or a traitor”

(Bild: krone.tv)

"Sometimes I feel like I'm reading an agent's book. Unfortunately, it's a harsh reality. The FPÖ has betrayed Austria's security to Russia!" says ÖVP parliamentary group leader Andreas Hanger about the "red-blue abuse of power committee" in the krone.tv talk with Jana Pasching. Why would the FPÖ have done this? "My guess is that the FPÖ thought it had something against the ÖVP. But now the shot has backfired."

Hanger does not accept counter-arguments that the ÖVP paved the way for the flow of information from the Russian spies because it has led the Ministry of the Interior since 2000 - apart from the time of Herbert Kickl and the period under expert governments. "That's nonsense." However, he still wants to be self-critical: "Of course the ÖVP was responsible for the BVT for many years. We can also see today that not everything went perfectly there. I want to share responsibility for this." But the fact is that Herbert Kickl became Interior Minister and destroyed the BVT. He did not succeed in reforming it, according to Hanger.

(Bild: krone.tv)

Kickl not credible for Hanger
Kickl himself countered the accusations in the U Committee last week: he had never known a Mr. Ott. Hanger does not consider this credible. "If he didn't know, he is incompetent, because as interior minister he should have known. If he did know, he is a traitor. But perhaps he is both: incompetent and a traitor," said Hanger aggressively.

"The FPÖ is a corrupt party"
There is currently a tense wait for chats from Kickl's former security spokesperson Hans-Jörg Jenewein. Above all, these should provide information on whether the FPÖ or people or organizations close to it paid for Ott's services. "Ott has drawn up a kind of price list, this is clearly about payments." Hanger repeated the statement he made at the beginning of the year, which at the time was still in connection with the FPÖ financial scandal in Graz: "I maintain that the FPÖ is a thoroughly corrupt party."

Corrupt ÖVP mayors in Lower Austria
Hanger did not deny that the ÖVP also has a history of corruption. For example, that there are mayors in Lower Austria who have allegedly been guilty of something - the "Krone" reported. "I think it's a shame that the work of mayors is being discredited by individuals. There will always be individual cases in every system that are not right. But I claim for us that we work very honestly and with great commitment."

The ÖVP is always willing to talk about a further committee of inquiry into Russia, as demanded by the Greens, NEOS and FPÖ. "But we would call it the 'FPÖ-Russia Committee of Inquiry'."

Watch the full interview with Andreas Hanger in the video above!