ACHTORAGE Court checks FPÖ: Election campaign costs too low?

ACHTORAGE Court checks FPÖ: Election campaign costs too low?

Österreich - The Auditors' Freedom (FPÖ) has targeted the Freedom Party in order to examine the costs of its EU election campaign. On the occasion of the upcoming review in accounting, planned for mid -July, the FPÖ is under fire. The reason: the party officially only stated 72,000 euros for agency costs, while the large rivals such as the ÖVP and SPÖ put significantly higher sums in their election campaign-around 1 million euros for the ÖVP and just under 600,000 euros for the SPÖ. Due to this criticism, the FPÖ sees itself under pressure.

The Court of Auditors criticizes that the FPÖ has not submitted any detailed expenses to agencies, which is classified as unconstitutional. FPÖ general secretary Michael Schledlitz vehemently rejected the allegations and emphasized that all costs of the party were truthfully stated. He refers to the recovered reimbursement of costs for the EU election and criticizes the review of the Court of Auditors with regard to the expenditure of other parties, which he describes as excessive.

conflict with the Court of Auditors

The conflict between the FPÖ and the Court of Auditors continues to come to a head. Schledlitz demands a reversal of the review and argues that the FPÖ has not hired expensive consultants, which has contributed significantly to reducing the costs. In particular, the personnel costs of the FPÖ and the organization of election campaign events are criticized by the Court of Auditors. Schledlitz again defends the popularity of her party leader Herbert Kickl and announces that it may bring the matter to the Constitutional Court.

The Court of Auditors thus pursues the goal of increasing transparency in party financing. In accordance with the legal requirements, political parties must send their accountability reports in a machine -readable format by September 30 of the following year. If there is non -compliance, fines of up to 50,000 euros are at risk. The new regulation, which has been in force since January 1, 2023, only obliges those parties to be accounted for in the National Council, in a state parliament or in the European Parliament. Nevertheless, the preparation and publication of the reports remains of central importance to prevent abuse and to ensure the integrity of the political process.

overview of the accountability reports

Current accountability reports show that the parties are subjected to the FPÖ, the ÖVP and the SPÖ again. The accountability reports for 2023 include:

The Court of Auditors received the accountability reports in 2023 on January 16, 2025. At a time when political parties are increasingly under the monitor of the public, the outcome of this review is of particular importance. Whether the FPÖ will actually get through with the lowest campaign editions will be shown in the coming days. More about the background and the legal framework of the party financing can be found on the website of the Auditors' Court.

For detailed reports on this topic, we refer to 5min.at, Today.at and Auflungshof.gv.at.