U-committee balance sheet

Lots of surprises and a “grilled” FPÖ leader

A picture from the U-Committee on the red-blue abuse of power

(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

The U-committees are over. The blue party came under pressure, but this was not reflected in the polls.

FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl should have been in the spotlight again for the finale. His former business partner Thomas Sila was to be brought before the police in parliament. But wonder of wonders, he was not available. Sila's lawyer criticized the fact that his client should have been questioned despite being seriously ill. The ÖVP, on the other hand, spoke of alleged indications that Sila had been spotted near the Klagenfurt lido. In fact, Sila is said to have "fled" to Croatia. The police tried in vain to track Sila down for two days. The Carinthian had once founded the advertising agency "Ideenschmiede" together with Kickl and now runs the successor company "signs".

With the non-appearance, the two sub-committees "Cofag" and "Red-Blue Abuse of Power" have come to an end. The bottom line: contrary to all expectations, the Red-Blue U-Committee was more successful than the Cofag U-Committee. Here is a summary of which MPs scored well and which did not:

The unlucky one: the blue U-Committee specialist and Secretary General Christian Hafenecker was the unlucky one. Together with Kai Jan Krainer from the SPÖ, he came up with the Cofag committee. In response, the ÖVP around Andreas Hanger decided on the abuse of power committee, which caused Hafenecker's party unexpected difficulties. During the questioning of his party leader Herbert Kickl, Hafenecker played out his routine, interrupting in a targeted and sometimes humorous manner. He referred to the ÖVP as the "Austrian Video Party" when it played a sequence in the committee room.

Member of the National Council Christian Hafenecker (FPÖ)

(Bild: APA/HANS PUNZ)

The winners: The up-and-coming red women's leader Eva-Maria Holzleitner is the secret winner of the abuse of power committee. The SPÖ's young hopeful "grilled" FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl during his questioning on the "think tank" case and also managed to spread the topic widely in the media.

The second winner is ÖVP parliamentary group leader Andreas Hanger. New hairstyle and new appearance. His success: he fought for two years for the delivery of Heinz-Christian Strache's chats - and was finally successful. As a result, Strache and all former FPÖ ministers are now under investigation for advertising corruption. The presumption of innocence applies. 

Eva Maria Holzleitner

(Bild: APA/ROBERT JAEGER)

The lucky man: Yannick Shetty, the leader of the pink parliamentary group, wore a tailored suit and was always perfectly prepared. He inherited the leadership of the committee from Stephanie Krisper and managed to make a name for himself. Especially in view of the fact that the Neos had actually rejected both sub-committees.

The most restrained: SPÖ parliamentary group leader Kai Jan Krainer was surprisingly restrained in his polemics. Apparently he had been muzzled by the new party leadership so as not to destroy the rapprochement with the ÖVP.