The parliamentary committee of inquiry into ‘red-blue abuse of power’ set up by the ÖVP was already struggling with a loss of witnesses before the interviews started. A respondent who had been invited for next Wednesday could now only be interviewed on Thursday, because there are no obligations yet for that day. But the U-Committee does not only have to deal with rejections: for example, the ÖVP re-invited the liberal club boss in Lower Austria on its own initiative.
The ÖVP’s plan for the already short committee was ambitious: faction leader Andreas Hanger wanted to invite a total of 35 people to provide information, preferably from circles of the SPÖ and the PVV. The turquoise list includes the red ex-chancellors Alfred Gusenbauer and Christian Kern, as well as FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. But the green mayor of Innsbruck, Georg Willi, was also announced.
It starts with an old acquaintance
The reality currently looks a bit bleaker. The turquoise-motivated investigations will start again next Wednesday with the head of the Financial Prosecutor’s Office, Wolfgang Peschorn – he was already the first to be questioned in the COFAG investigative committee set up by the SPÖ and FPÖ. He is followed by the head of internal audit at the Ministry of the Interior.
The plan is reduced to “half” days
Another key figure from Kickl’s term as interior minister, his former secretary general Peter Goldgruber, also agreed to attend on Wednesday. Now his questioning could be postponed until Thursday. The reason: All respondents scheduled for this second day of the survey have been canceled. So there would now be at least two “half” U-committee days.
Witnesses who stay away probably fear no consequences
Several other respondents, including former Minister of Social Affairs Beate Hartinger-Klein, have already refused, often with regard to holidays. The wave of rejections is probably also due to the brevity of the U-Committee, whose investigations lasted only a little less than three months. It would again take a significant amount of time to reload this. Imposing penalties would therefore be difficult.
Snout due to government participation?
But coalition diplomacy at state level could also have played a role in the loss of witnesses, it is said. Kickl’s former chief of staff, Reinhard Teufel, was originally going to be the first person to provide information instead of Peschorn, and had actually already agreed. But interest in him waned again. Teufel is also the blue club leader in the Lower Austrian state parliament and is therefore a coalition partner of the ÖVP.
According to the ÖVP, Teufel was canceled “because of the files”, and certain documents had not yet been fully evaluated, it was said. On the sidelines of the COFAG investigative committee, parliamentary group leader Andreas Hanger heavily criticized other rejections of informants close to the FPÖ on Thursday. After all, a current list still contains 70 potential respondents that the ÖVP could invite.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
