"Have also suffered"
ÖVP on “Ibiza” anniversary: “FPÖ has changed little”
Five years after the Ibiza affair, the ÖVP is using the "anniversary" to create a mood against the FPÖ. "The Freedom Party has actually changed very little," said General Secretary Christian Stocker on Friday. He sees the former coalition partner as being more responsible for the misconduct, although ÖVP politicians had become the focus of the investigation as a result of the case.
The publication of the video had provided an insight "into the blue world of politics", said Stocker. Stocker admitted that convictions have so far mainly affected the ÖVP: "It is true that 'Ibiza' has had more of an impact on the People's Party than we would have suspected five years ago."
Stocker: "We have also suffered as a result"
After the resignation of the blue leader, everything was focused on those in power. "We have also suffered as a result, we have also been damaged."
ÖVP rejects coalition with Kickl
Stocker pointed out, however, that not only FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl is currently under investigation, but also EU mandatary Harald Vilimsky, Third National Council President Norbert Hofer and Styrian FPÖ leader Mario Kunasek. It is a unique feature of the FPÖ that the top personnel standing for election are involved in proceedings. Accordingly, Stocker did not rule out talks with the FPÖ after the National Council elections - "if we finish first" - but not with Kickl. "Nothing has been ruled out, but nothing has been decided," said the Secretary General.
SPÖ warns of a new blue-black coalition
The opposition also spoke out on the anniversary. The Ibiza video, the subsequent U-committees and investigations have shown in a shocking way why there must never be another coalition between the ÖVP and FPÖ," concluded SPÖ Federal Managing Director Klaus Seltenheim in a press release. Both parties endangered democracy and freedom of the press. "Blue-Black is damaging the country, the people and Austria's reputation," said Seltenheim six months before the national elections.
NEOS: "Miles away from clean politics"
The NEOS also drew new conclusions on the anniversary. "We are still miles away from clean politics", said their deputy NEOS party leader Nikolaus Scherak. The case should have been a wake-up call - "instead, it remains an instruction manual on how to ignore the rule of law and open the floodgates to corruption". "Ibiza" is just as possible today as it was back then, Scherak said. "The much-vaunted anti-corruption criminal law does nothing to change this."
"Ibiza" led to two committees of inquiry
The Ibiza affair led to the break-up of the ÖVP and FPÖ government in 2019. On 17 May, a video secretly recorded in July 2017 was published in which the then FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache and his club chairman in the National Council, Johann Gudenus, chatted freely about corruption plans with a female decoy. Not only did the government dissolve, but numerous criminal proceedings and two committees of inquiry were the result.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Kommentare
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.