Why is nothing happening?

Anti-terror law: Greens in need of explanation

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

Werner Kogler in the ORF summer interview and the explosive question: Who actually blocked the anti-terror law on chat surveillance? According to information from Krone, the draft law was sent to Green Justice Minister Alma Zadić on February 16. Nothing has happened since then.

It will almost certainly be his last ORF summer interview as Vice-Chancellor. Werner Kogler starts a catch-up campaign as the Green Party's top candidate. A convincing performance in the ORF interview with Martin Thür against the beautiful backdrop of Lake Traunsee is therefore a must. The Greens are currently polling at nine percent. The figures have also been worse - at around seven percent.

There are still seven weeks left to jump over the ten percent hurdle. The price for this is high: although the recently very edgy environmental policy (keyword: renaturation law) is mobilizing Green voters again, it is catapulting the Greens out of the running for future coalition negotiations. "The Greens will not be as powerful as they are now for a long time", says political analyst Thomas Hofer.

Interior Minister Karner describes the discussion as "hypocritical"
 Just five days after the attack on Taylor Swift's open-air concert was prevented, the question will also be the focus of the ORF summer discussion: Who is actually putting the brakes on the State Protection and Intelligence Service Act, which is intended to legally enable the police to monitor chats? The ÖVP and the Greens have been blaming each other for days.

The point is that the Austrian police are currently not allowed to monitor the chats of potential assassins and threats in messenger services such as Telegram. This makes state security blind to young men who are radicalized by hate preachers on social media. As a result, Austrian state security is primarily reliant on information from foreign intelligence services to prevent terrorist plots. This was also the case when it came to preventing the planned attack at the Taylor Swift concerts.  

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

In an interview with "Krone", Interior Minister Gerhard Karner described the discussion about the law as "hypocritical", as the information from foreign intelligence services is accepted. The State Protection and Intelligence Service Act is intended to regulate the powers and investigative possibilities of the State Protection and Intelligence Service Directorate in future. 

The Ministry of Justice simply did not respond to proposed deadlines 
In response to an inquiry from Krone, the Ministry of the Interior has now revealed when the draft law was submitted to Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens). "The proposal for the amendment has been with the coalition partner since February 16," according to the Ministry of the Interior.

Since then, there has been another meeting in March and some email correspondence. However, further proposals for meetings on June 7, 10 or 11 simply went unanswered by the Ministry of Justice.

In addition, the Ministry of the Interior emphasized that during the first attempt for a State Protection and Intelligence Service Act, the "Constitutional Court repealed a provision of the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO for short). This Code of Criminal Procedure is clearly the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice".

The Ministry of the Interior assures that it "has been pushing for a change for a long time". The issue was therefore also repeatedly raised by officials from the Ministry of the Interior with the Ministry of Justice at other meetings. For example, during negotiations on the seizure of cell phones. But there was no movement on the part of the Ministry of Justice. 

This raises the question: has Zadic let the important law in the fight against extremism slide because the monitoring of chats - even with judicial approval - is against green ideology?

Hot questions on a hot day at Lake Traunsee. A real summer interview.