Kickl himself might have his say there in a so-called follow-up procedure. The National Council ensured on Friday that the committee can also meet in the summer.
Green MP David Stögmüller, chairman of the Incompatibility Committee, explained in writing to the APA that he had received the SPÖ’s request to schedule a meeting and would deal with the points contained therein accordingly. “For us Greens, it is clear: the Incompatibility Committee is an important instrument of transparency in the Republic and, accordingly, these allegations must be clarified quickly,” he stated.
Stögmüller now wants to start talks with all the parties. “We have to call a meeting of the incompatibility committee anyway to process the reports that have been received and will then be able to deal with the questions raised by the SPÖ,” he said. Already on Friday in the National Council, Stögmüller had stressed that he wanted to give Kickl the opportunity to clarify the issues mentioned in the inquiry procedure and thus create transparency.
Professional functions and income in focus
SPÖ MP Kai Jan Krainer had listed various professional functions and income in the National Council as cases in which there may have been violations of reporting and transparency obligations. Parliamentarians bear a great deal of responsibility and are therefore obliged to be particularly transparent with regard to assets and income, Krainer stressed.
Accusations “baseless”
FPÖ MP Harald Stefan also dismissed the allegations that Kickl had received undeclared income as “baseless” and said that the request was due to the election campaign. The most recent parliamentary committee of inquiry found no misconduct on the part of club chairman Kickl, so the FPÖ is calmly awaiting the meeting of the incompatibility committee. What is problematic, however, is that the allegations regarding a company car emerged following the unauthorized disclosure of tax documents. Stefan saw this as a questionable approach.
On Sunday, the Freedom Party’s constitutional spokeswoman Susanne Fürst spoke of a “desperate attack by the system” and the next attempt to tar Kickl. “What our federal party chairman Herbert Kickl continues to be accused of has already been proven to be false and baseless countless times,” she explained in a press release.
