Press spokesperson invited – U-Committee: Advertisements under Köstinger in the picture

This also led to negotiations with the media houses. This was also the case with the cooperation with the “BauernZeitung”, which according to Kosak belongs to the farmers’ association, which stated that it was the largest agricultural newspaper in the country and that you could de facto reach all farmers: “I see nothing infamous.” Every advertisement is valuable, the price is always well below the list price. In addition, there was a need for information in all cases. Kosak also emphasized that the total volume for media collaboration in the first year after Köstinger moved to the ministry fell from two million euros per year to EUR 1.3 million.The costs for the “BauernZeitung” have also been reduced.

“As far as I can remember,” emphasized the Chancellor’s spokesman, he had not been instructed by Köstinger to advertise in certain media: “However, it is possible and conceivable that I informed the minister of the cooperation. ” only done superficially. He also cannot remember orders from the chief of staff. When asked about a possible “message control of the chancellery”, he said that he understood this as “professional cooperation”, ie when what communication priorities should be set in everyday political life. As far as he recalls, there were no orders from the Chancellery to place advertisements in any particular media.

Funded campaign activities of the ÖVP?
The opposition parties and the Greens suspect that government advertising contracts were actually used to fund the ÖVP’s election campaigns. FPÖ party chairman Christian Hafenecker even sees the Ministry of Agriculture led by former minister Köstinger as a “black land of milk and honey” or an “eldorado of black self-service”. And the NEOS also wants to ask how taxpayers’ money was handled in the Köstinger era and whether advertising was done according to factual criteria. Kosak was responsible for several advertisements, but in some cases the specialist department was not formally appointed until after, as NEOS faction leader Stephanie Krisper explained. This is evident from the files.

Role of the agency “Media Contacta”
The SPÖ, in turn, wants to investigate why the orders from the Ministry of Agriculture for the agency “Media Contacta” suddenly increased in 2018 and 2019. After all, the same agency was active for the ÖVP in the 2017 election campaign and postponed payments for the party, which was then financially tight, explained the red MP Julia Herr. She also found “inconsistencies in the award” or many references in the files to “strange constructions”.

The Greens are also interested in the “order explosion” under Köstinger for “Media Contacta”, whose director was invited to Kosak. In addition, they want to scrutinize the funds that flowed to the “BauernZeitung” under the auspices of Köstinger, said Green Party leader Nina Tomaselli, recalling that Köstinger belonged to the close circle of ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz and a ” mainstay in the Ballhausplatz project”.

Attempted scandal by other factions
For the ÖVP, on the other hand, the committee day only brought “more of the same”, as faction leader Andreas Hanger put it before the start of the survey. Again he spoke of scandal attempts by the other factions. There were no kick-back payments, nor were any advertisements placed illegally. According to Hanger, the “clear guidelines” for the award were always followed.

After Kosak and the director of “Media Contacta”, another department head of the ministry was invited, who was responsible for the communication agenda.