"Krone" has the list

Secret services: Nehammer presents package of measures

The National Security Council meets on Tuesday, with the ÖVP naming four key areas - including the pre-trial detention of juvenile threats.

(Bild: AP)

National Security Council meets on Tuesday: The ÖVP names 4 key areas in the fight against terrorism - including the pre-trial detention of juvenile terrorists.

Austria's intelligence services are heavily dependent on foreign intelligence - this was made clear by the American warning against Islamists who were planning an attack and could be arrested. The ÖVP now wants more possibilities for monitoring suspected threats and terrorists.

The "Krone" newspaper has a list of measures from the Chancellor's party, which will end up in the National Security Council today.

Cooperation between national and international security authorities has made it possible to prevent a terrorist attack in Vienna. Nevertheless, it has become clear that Islamist terror threatens security and freedom in Austria.

The ÖVP identifies four key areas

• Combating political Islam: Here, there is a need to tighten the law on associations and assemblies if organizations seriously run counter to the values and basic principles of a European democratic state. It should also be examined whether additional possibilities for prohibiting anti-democratic parties can be anchored in the Austrian Political Parties Act.

• Re-introduction of conditionally mandatory pre-trial detention without exceptions for juveniles: This should be the case for murder and terrorism-related offenses.

• Strengthening the domestic intelligence services in the fight against terrorism and extremism: Irrespective of the responsibility of a department, the services of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior are to be empowered by legal measures to monitor the content of messages and to control encrypted messages by introducing programs into a system or other suitable technical measures. All this must be done in compliance with constitutional legal protection provisions. The regulation of technical interfaces in the telecommunications sector is also to be brought up to date. These measures should also include the monitoring of communications from foreign end devices. This concerns the monitoring of messenger services and Internet telephony, which are usually used by terrorists. This is currently not permitted in Austria.

• Strengthening deradicalization programmes and preventing extremism: In the prison system to prevent both radicalization in prison and recidivism. It must be ensured that those at risk for whom this does not work must remain in prison.

Prevention work should also be strengthened by expanding and bundling existing services and contact points as well as by legally anchoring the newly established "Documentation Center for Political Islam".

Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP): "The fight against political Islam as religiously motivated extremism must be waged with all severity and determination. It poses a threat to our freedom and our democracy."

"Provide the necessary resources"
It is crucial to remain vigilant, stand together and take decisive action against terrorism and religiously motivated extremism. "We must provide our security authorities with the necessary resources."