The investigative committee set up by the ÖVP into the ‘red-blue abuse of power’ ends this week as it began: with rejections. The chairman of the Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl, refused his second questioning regarding a mountain hike. That was not the only thing that caused a fight between the ÖVP and FPÖ beforehand.
Kickl’s former business partner at advertising agency Ideas Forge, Thomas Sila, also canceled – due to illness. ÖVP club boss Andreas Hanger was angry about this. Because it keeps detecting blue escape attempts.
“Coward of the nation”
Kickl’s vacation plans also angered Hanger. It is a “democratic political scandal if Kickl goes on a mountain hike.” After all, there have been plans for additional committees in the National Council for a long time. “He is a coward of the nation,” Hanger told the FPÖ leader at a press conference on Monday. He wants to load it again at the end of May. FPÖ faction leader Christian Hafenecker doesn’t think much about it: “Mr Hanger believes he can grant some special rights in his Mickey Mouse committee.”
After all, Kickl’s former chief of staff and a disgraced former Graz Blauer are coming today. The events in the Graz FPÖ are of primary importance for the ÖVP, even though questions about them regarding the subject of the investigation were not allowed and no files were provided. Alexis Pascuttini, who founded his own council club after being expelled from the party, says he wants to answer all the questions he is entitled to.
Devil is interrogated
Reinhard Teufel, once Kickl’s chief of staff at the Ministry of the Interior, is asked about Pascuttini. He is now club leader in the Lower Austrian state parliament, where the Freedom Party forms a coalition with the ÖVP. Teufel had already agreed to the first day of the U-Committee, but was subsequently excluded by the ÖVP and later invited back.
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.
