Mutual accusations

FPÖ accuses ÖVP of abuse of office

Susanne Fürst, deputy leader and constitutional spokesperson for the FPÖ

(Bild: APA/Michael Gruber)

The ÖVP and FPÖ exchanged blows on Monday. While the ÖVP considered the "blue abuse of power" to be proven, the FPÖ announced that it would press charges on suspicion of abuse of office and attempted falsification of evidence.

The accusation relates to the meeting of the sub-committee on April 11, at which FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl was invited for questioning. ÖVP MP Corinna Schwarzenberger had presented a screenshot of a newspaper article. However, the FPÖ criticized that this only showed an advertisement from the Ministry of the Interior on a child pornography site. Hafenecker had already spoken of an "unbelievable scandal" at the time. Herbert Kickl was accused of being close to child abuse depictions, said FPÖ parliamentary group leader Susanne Fürst. "That's the end of the fun."

The rest of the article had shown that the Ministry of the Interior bore no responsibility for the advertising. Kickl, in turn, was not responsible for the placement, "because it runs via the Google advertising network."

Christian Hafenecker (FPÖ)

(Bild: krone.tv)

Andreas Hanger (ÖVP)

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Second case involves Ott
The charges of abuse of office relate to two press conferences by ÖVP parliamentary group leaders that referred to parts of the files from the Egisto Ott case. However, these were only passed on to the U-Committee at a later date, which raises the question of where Hanger and Stocker had obtained this information, said the FPÖ. "Is there a flow of information from the Ministry of the Interior to the ÖVP?"

ÖVP MP Andreas Hanger, on the other hand, sees the scandals exclusively on the Freedom Party side. "The blue abuse of power has been proven several times, the Kickl system has been unmasked." At the same time, he was annoyed by another of Kickl's refusals. The politician referred to a mountain tour. "He is a coward of the nation," said Hanger, who now wants to invite Kickl once again on 22 and 23 May. The FPÖ leader had already testified once in the sub-committee. 

Only two respondents
The next questioning is planned for Tuesday. Only Kickl's former head of cabinet and club leader in the blue state parliament, Reinhard Teufel, and Alexis Pascuttini, who has founded his own local council club in Graz, are expected to attend.