Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) coolly responded to Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen’s request (see video above) to initiate a “general restoration of confidence” in democracy in view of the ÖVP affair. Nehammer said Friday evening on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels that he took Van der Bellen’s words “very seriously”, but at the same time described price increases and inflation as “the real problems of the people”. Transparency is important for the ÖVP, he assured.
“Yes, I take the words of the Federal President very seriously,” said the ÖVP boss in the presence of Austrian journalists in response to relevant questions.
“Full clarification and transparency are important,” he stressed, in view of the corruption scandal involving leading former and current ÖVP politicians.
Within the ÖVP, they started “a long time ago” to “make sure we can be transparent faster and easier,” said Nehammer. At the same time, he referred to creating a legal framework for greater transparency and specifically mentioned media and party funding.
VdB requires credible guarantees to restore trust
Van der Bellen addressed the public on Thursday afternoon with a statement in the cabinet of the president. In it, he described corruption as a “crippling poison”. Measures should be taken to ensure that those responsible in politics are fully able to act and to restore confidence in politics.
According to the Federal President, confidence in democracy in Austria has again been shaken enormously. The past few days have been marked by “fundamental political turmoil” and “I can’t and won’t accept that anymore,” he said in light of the testimony of Thomas Schmid, former confidant of ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz, which have become known. He could understand that many were shivering away from politics. “I also see what is happening and I think to myself: this can’t all be true,” said Van der Bellen.
Van der Bellen sees political ‘water damage’
The chats leaked to the public “escalated to visible water damage”. In the meantime, this water damage has reached the substance of the building, which can no longer be repaired with a few licks of paint: “What has become public again in recent hours and days on the subject of corruption is no small water stain. It is enormous damage that affects the very core of our democracy.”
“There is now a need for a general renovation, a renovation of the contents”, and it is his duty to ensure that this happens, according to the Federal President, who probably not coincidentally alluded to the words of former Federal President Rudolf Kirchschläger about the wiretapping of sour pastures.
Van der Bellen warned against the impression that things could be done in the country, for example in tax matters or in favor of their own clique. It must be in the prime interest of the Chancellor and the Government to refute this impression. As good news “in the suspected corruption cases involving some ÖVP politicians” he judged that the rule of law works: “We look at the rule of law at work and when it works.” According to Van der Bellen, the judiciary enjoys his full support.
Source: Krone
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