FPÖ calls for U-Committee: Conformity of the Conformity under fire!

FPÖ calls for U-Committee: Conformity of the Conformity under fire!

Braunau, Österreich - The FPÖ is planning a walk to the Constitutional Court (VfGH) after their application for an investigation committee for the Corona measures and Christian Pilnacek's death was rejected by the government. As the Kleine Zeitung reports the coalitional factions that the subject of the investigation is neither determined. Two reports doubt the legality of the application and show that the investigation is not constitutional, so that Wöginger from the ÖVP remains skeptical about the intimidation of critics by the Ministry of the Interior.

The decision is remarkable in that the application of the FPÖ was confronted with a lot of resistance and both the SPÖ and the NEOS support the rejection. Neos MP Nikolaus Scherak describes the clarification by the VfGH as useful. The GREEN also complain of formal errors in the application of the FPÖ, but support the right of control of the possible government.

political tensions and power games

The rejection of the application is part of a larger political game. The chair of the U-Committee could be conducted by National Council President Walter Rosenkranz (FPÖ). Wöginger is calm about the possibility that the FPÖ will use two separate U-committees, and describes earlier committees as "herb and beet committees".

The coalition parties argue that the claims made in the FPÖ that concentrate on various processes cannot be treated in an investigation committee. In particular, Andreas Hanger (ÖVP) emphasizes that this does not correspond to the constitutional requirements, while Kai Jan Krainer (SPÖ) criticizes the mixture of different topics and indicates the lack of substantiated justification for the connection between the corona measures and the Pilnacekfall.

The role of the committees of investigation

According to the Federal Center for Political Education, examination committees are an important instrument of the parliament to control the government and are mainly used by the opposition. Their main task is to examine already completed, presumably problematic facts. The collection of evidence, the interrogation of witnesses and the requirement of documents are central aspects of their work. In contrast to the acquainting of information, examination committees focus on the upcoming legal and political issues.

The procedures are often politically charged, and the success of the committee depends heavily on public attention and media reporting. The final report, which is presented at the end of the work, represents the central overview of the results and is associated with a vote.

Wöginger emphasized that the ÖVP wants to participate constructively and see no cracks in the triple coalition. Cooperation at the club level seems to work well, which could be important for the upcoming political debates. Future surveys indicate that the ÖVP survey values could increase again, while their own surveys for the FPÖ are about ten percentage points above those of the ÖVP.

The government also plans to work on a new social assistance from autumn that should design more uniform and to include waiting periods during an integration phase. Children's rates are also to be integrated that decrease with increasing number of children, analogous to models in Upper Austria and Lower Austria.