The ÖVP considers this a “single farce,” said parliamentary group leader Andreas Hanger before the committee.
The leader of the Greens, Nina Tomaselli, also announced that she would “dive into the Lower Austria system” – before his tenure as interior minister, Karner was, among other things, state manager of the ÖVP Lower Austria. Her NEOS counterpart Stephanie Krisper admitted that Karner only became Minister of the Interior after the investigation period – but he could then have uncovered various grievances. The NEOS also want to ask about the allocation of posts in Lower Austria – Krisper is also not entirely clear about Karner’s qualifications as Minister of the Interior.
Above all, the SPÖ wants to know why it took so long for Karner to agree that he actually wanted to show Schmid – the Interior Minister had previously acted as an “escape helper for Schmid”, said SPÖ representative Julia Herr. Christian Hafenecker (FPÖ) does not consider Karner to be the “great architect” in the ÖVP: “He’s more of a kind of foreman who takes part.” Nevertheless, he wants to ask about Karner’s interventions for appointments.
Also “Causa Ohlsdorf” as a topic
The ÖVP, in turn, does not want to allow this. Hanger emphasized that the trial judge would be asked to comply with the rules of procedure and only allow questions about the subject of the investigation. He now considers the committee “a farce” and a “waste of tax money”. The millions of file pages requested triggered a huge administrative effort and could no longer be read by anyone.
Then the ex-Secretary General in the Ministry of Agriculture and then head of cabinet of Ex-Minister Elisabeth Köstinger (ÖVP), Gernot Maier, as well as the head of the finance department of the ÖVP federal party are questioned. Among other things, Maier should deal with the “Causa Ohlsdorf”. The focus is on a business settlement area in Ohlsdorf (Upper Austria), for which more than 18 hectares of forest were cleared. The ex-industrial Hans Asamer, who also donated to the ÖVP, resold the property to a Belgian real estate company after the rededication at a high profit. He had previously acquired around a third of the forest area from the federal forests.
Source: Nachrichten
