This is argued with a formal dual existence of the Seniors’ Association as an ÖVP sub-organization and as an association. The ÖVP is not putting forward this argument for the first time. But it is legally controversial. Two years ago there was a penalty for the ÖVP. In fact, the Seniors’ Association in Upper Austria is registered as a separate association – and has been since 1956. The statute of the association does not contain a link to the ÖVP – but it does in the statute of the provincial party. There, the Upper Austrian Senior Citizens’ Association is named as a sub-organization of the party and its anchoring in the party bodies is regulated.
dishes on the train
This formal dual existence of the Seniors’ Association as part of the party and as an association also exists in other federal states. Whether this is really the clean separation claimed by the Seniors’ Association would have to be clarified in the specific case by the Independent Party Transparency Senate and subsequently the administrative courts, says the political scientist Hubert Sickinger, who specializes in party financing, to the APA. “They are attempting the same escape from the party law as the SP trade unionists and the SP pensioners’ association.” However, they would have changed their statutes and founded new associations. In his opinion, it should be clarified whether this was also the case with the Upper Austrian Senior Citizens’ Association.
“One unit in terms of content”
The Independent Party Transparency Senate in the Chancellery had already determined at the end of 2018, using Lower Austria as an example, that the association and the party organization of the ÖVP seniors “form a unit in terms of content” despite the formal double track. At that time, however, it was about much less money – namely a club bar that was made available to the Seniors’ Association by a Lower Austrian municipality. The Senate imposed a fine of 4,000 euros. The question of whether the sub-organization and the party are one and the same organization was decided, but not. Because the Federal Administrative Court confirmed the fine imposed on the ÖVP at the time, without finally answering the question of the identity of the association and sub-organization.
Source: Nachrichten
