Criticism of turquoise green – BVwG summit vacant: ‘constitutional scandal’

The head of the BVwG has been vacant since December last year. In February, the nomination committee, which included VfGH president Christoph Grabenwarter and ex-Minister of Justice Clemens Jabloner, submitted a proposal to the federal government, with Matejka as the top-ranked candidate. However, because there is disagreement within the coalition with the vacant main post at the Federal Competition Authority about filling a new top position, both appointments have not yet been made.

Sharp criticism
For Kanduth, this approach to a rule of law is “extremely questionable”. After all, it is about the management of Austria’s largest court, which the federal administration is supposed to control. “How can you combine the position of a judge with anything else?” asked Kanduth in the Ö1 ‘Mittagsjournal’: ‘That is an impossibility in an independent judiciary.’ It should not be about ‘understandings’, ‘partisan political interests’ or ‘tendencies to retain power’.

SPÖ: “Casting Packelei”
On Friday, criticism also came from the SPÖ. According to justice spokeswoman Selma Yildirim, the federal government is harming the rule of law with the ‘occupation pressure’. Yildirim regretted that Matejka had resigned as president of the judges’ association. The spokeswoman for the Red Justice called for an end to the “unspeakable partisan games” and insisted on transparent selection processes.

NEOS: “Warning signal”
The NEOS interpreted Matejka’s withdrawal as an “alarm signal”. After all, the outgoing president of the Association of Judges has profiled them as “key stakeholders in the Austrian judiciary above any partisan political appropriation,” Pink Justice spokesman Johannes Margreiter stressed. It is a pity that she gives up this position, “because the ÖVP and the Greens cannot agree on their unspeakable post-negotiation.”