14. August 2024
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) will not comply with the National Security Council’s request to have a commission evaluate the state security operation surrounding the thwarted attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna. He told APA and “Kurier” this. He does not want to expose the Directorate of State Security Intelligence Services (DSN) to a “party-political slaughter”. The control commission will also not take action on its own initiative.
Chairwoman Ingeborg Zerbes made a similar statement to the APA. At the moment there is “no reason,” Zerbes said, referring to the ongoing proceedings. It is not ruled out, however, that action will be taken in the future. In general, the commission is “not dependent on any request” and could also reject one, noted the criminal law expert. In any case, now is “not the moment to examine it.”
The DSN has now regained international recognition and he will not allow its work to be spoken down about, said Karner. There are also legal concerns about the DSN Control Commission reviewing the use of the various intelligence services. Finally, Karner argues that now, at the start of the investigation, full concentration must be placed on the investigation. As with every operation, analyses will be carried out afterwards, but not at this point in time, he stressed to the APA.
In any case, the ÖVP is not very enthusiastic about the actions of the other parties in the Security Council. The previous day was a “holiday for terrorists and organized crime,” criticized ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker in a press conference on Wednesday. A “unity party” including the FPÖ and the Green coalition partner is responsible for this.
Stocker described the fact that the SPÖ, FPÖ, Greens and NEOS had shown themselves united on this issue as “remarkable”. The FPÖ is evidently living in this “unity party of the dangerous” exactly what it accuses its competitors of, and FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl is in the middle of them. “Green and red apparently have no problem with blue,” said the ÖVP general secretary at the press event at the ÖVP headquarters in Vienna’s Lichtenfelsgasse, standing up for the “safety of the people” alone. In any case, the People’s Party does not want to be put off or diverted from its path.
The People’s Party wants its draft law to be implemented, particularly with regard to messenger surveillance. The intelligence services must be able to “keep up,” stressed Stocker. However, the ÖVP security spokesman added that this would only be possible in “individual cases,” in the case of certain serious crimes such as terrorism, and under strict conditions. In order to minimize the risk of an attack, intelligence services must be given the opportunity to “read along.”
When asked about the possibility of the plan being implemented before the election, Stocker said he would be pleased. “I don’t have faith,” he said, referring to the unanimous rejection of the Security Council’s competitors the previous evening. “If you want to achieve something, you find a solution. If you want to prevent something, you find a reason,” said Stocker. However, he also identified “remnants of reason and common sense” among representatives of other parties, particularly the SPÖ.
When asked, Stocker justified the ÖVP’s negative attitude in the National Security Council to an evaluation of the use of the intelligence services in the attack plans case by saying that they had “worked in an exemplary manner” despite limited resources. In general, “mistrust is completely inappropriate” here, there is no basis for it. In addition, the security service has already provided all information and answered all questions. The ÖVP general secretary protested against casting “doubts” on the intelligence services: “Instead of observing terrorists, we are now observing the intelligence services.” The responsible control commission would work “without instructions” anyway and “does not need any encouragement.”
The Greens were outraged by the criticism of their coalition partner. “When the ÖVP now shouts ‘unity party’ and compares strong Green women with right-wing agitators, it legitimizes what it is supposedly fighting against: the right-wing extremist FPÖ,” criticized the Greens’ general secretary, Olga Voglauer, on the short message service X. During a press conference in the morning, she accused Stocker of “changing political change.”
With regard to messenger surveillance, Voglauer repeated the Greens’ concerns that fundamental rights and freedoms must be protected. The Greens believe that the coalition partner is responsible for the fact that nothing has been done on the issue since the Interior Ministry presented the draft law months ago. There have been repeated discussions in which the Greens have raised their open questions, but nothing has happened, said Voglauer. The Greens reject a shortening of the review period in order to pass the law before the National Council elections. “Regardless of whether there is an election date, six weeks of review time is simply necessary” in order to evaluate the proposals in a broad discussion with experts from all areas such as data protection, constitutional law and technical issues, “so that in the end there is a viable legislation,” said Voglauer. By bringing in experts, this could certainly be achieved.
The SPÖ, in turn, criticized the ÖVP for “declaring itself the security party at every opportunity,” but “in reality it had long since resigned.” It was “only about party tactics,” said SPÖ federal manager Klaus Seltenheim in a press release. Stocker had called a press conference specifically to “lament” that the Security Council did not “unquestioningly approve half-baked ideas” as it did at an ÖVP party conference.
The FPÖ, on the other hand, saw this as a diversionary tactic by the People’s Party. The ÖVP government was “abusing its own failure as a ramp to create legal opportunities for mass surveillance and instruments to restrict unwelcome opinions and organizations,” said FPÖ security spokesman Hannes Amesbauer. People had “not forgotten the Corona period.” The ÖVP had “targeted its own population rather than genuine counterterrorism.”
On Wednesday, the NEOS once again criticized the fact that they have not even received the government’s messenger draft. Secretary General Douglas Hoyos also expressed “great concerns” on the sidelines of the campaign poster presentation as to whether the regulation was constitutional.
On Tuesday evening, Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) had his package of demands rejected in the National Security Council following the thwarted attack on a Taylor Swift concert. None of the other factions agreed to demands such as messenger surveillance, a tightening of the party law and an extension of prison sentences for non-deradicalized people. Instead, there was a broad majority in favor of a review of the state security operation.
