Court of Auditors Sees Unlawful Donations at ÖVP, SPÖ and FPÖ

The Court of Auditors (RH) points out possible conflicts of interest in the social media activities of politicians and calls for clear rules to distinguish between government and personal or party-political activities. The independent Party Transparency Senate (UPTS) is to be commissioned for this purpose.

RH identifies personnel costs for social media accounts as unauthorised donation

The media owner of the official accounts of the Federal Chancellor is the party. According to the RH's review, personnel costs amounting to 50,600 euros were incurred in 2022, which the party did not reimburse to the Federal Chancellery. The RH classifies these personnel costs as an unauthorised donation. Furthermore, postings were published that do not directly concern the Federal Chancellor's government work, but are to be classified as subjects of the ÖVP and thus as advertising for the party. In addition, the party was able to generate additional followers through the use of public funds (advertising services of the Federal Chancellery) and therefore benefit from an increased advertising value of their party-political content.

The RH also sees a violation of the party law in the fact that the income and expenses of the "Austrian Seniors' Association" and the corresponding associations at the state level were not reported in the 2022 accountability report. In line with a decision of the UPTS contested by the party, which is not legally binding, the Court of Auditors sees these associations as "divisions of the party". A similar issue, from the perspective of the Court of Auditors, also exists with the "Tyrolean Young Farmers' Association/Rural Youth". Here too, the income and expenses of the "Tyrolean Young Farmers' Association/Rural Youth" should have been listed as a "division of the party" in the party's accountability report. The ÖVP denies that it is a "division of the party".

RH sees violations also due to Doskozil's Facebook account

The RH also identifies a violation in connection with social media postings by the SPÖ. The Facebook account of the Burgenland Governor Hans Peter Doskozil can be attributed to the office of the state government. However, in 2022, six postings were published on this account that can be attributed to the party: "The photos, the content of the accompanying texts and the striking red background of the posts for the May 1st event, the people dressed in party T-shirts and the SPÖ officials depicted in one posting give the average attentive, average understanding and average informed viewer the impression that these are party contents of the SPÖ and therefore represent an advertising value for the party", says an information from the RH. The Court of Auditors sees this as an unauthorised donation in the form of in-kind contributions amounting to 600 euros.

The RH also identifies unauthorised party donations in the magazine "4U: The Magazine of the SPÖ Graz". The content can be attributed to the Graz SPÖ and not to the municipal council club, resulting in donations from the club to the party amounting to 20,700 euros. The accountability report should have shown the permissible donation from the SPÖ municipal council club amounting to 7,935.21 euros; the excess amount of around 12,800 euros was unauthorised.

FPÖ Webshop as an Unlawful Donation

A notification was also sent to the UPTS in connection with the FPÖ Carinthia. They refer on their website to a fan shop that offers promotional items with the design of the FPÖ Carinthia. According to the party, the shop is operated by a company, the Carinthian regional group neither generates income nor has it received donations from it. In the view of the Court of Audit, the sale of promotional items of the party via the fan shop represents an advertising measure for the party. Despite explicit request, the party has not provided the Court of Audit with any information or documents regarding the incurred material and personnel costs for the fan shop, which could have been taken into account for the assessment of costs. The RH estimates these at up to around 55,000 euros. The RH sees this as a donation, which should have been shown in the 2022 accountability report and which is partly unlawful due to the exceeding of the annual donation limit per donor of 7,935.21 euros.

In the view of the RH, there is a violation of the obligation to disclose due to the incorrect and incomplete disclosure of the management of the "Neue Freie Zeitung" in the party's accountability report. The newspaper is owned by the FPÖ together with the blue parliamentary group. In addition, the management, editing and administration of the "Neue Freie Zeitung" is carried out by the party. For this, it received a subsidy under the Press Promotion Act amounting to 54,242 euros, which is not included in the accountability report. Also, the revenues from advertisements of the "Neue Freie Zeitung" are understated in the 2022 accountability report. These generated revenues of around 17,300 euros through advertisements of the Austrian Lotteries. The revenues were not taken into account in the party's accountability report.

Another notification concerning the Freedom Party was issued due to Facebook postings by the Upper Austrian club chairman Herwig Mahr. In the view of the Court of Audit, eleven Facebook advertisements in 2022 represented an unlawful donation in the form of in-kind contributions by the Freedom Party Club Upper Austria to the party in the amount of 330 euros.

Violations Also Found with the Greens and NEOS

Already at the end of October, the RH published the accountability reports of the Greens and NEOS. There too, he identified unlawful donations in connection with social media accounts of Civil Servants Minister Werner Kogler and Justice Minister Alma Zadić (both Greens) as well as Vienna's Deputy Mayor Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS). The Beer Party also received a notification to the UPTS. This concerned the sale of Beer Party promotional items in the webshop of the band Turbobier, whose frontman is party leader Dominik Wlazny.

(APA/Red)

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