First Responses After FPÖ Flood of Inquiries on Corona

In 2019, there were about 200 submissions from private individuals on the parliament's website. In 2022, the number rose to over 250,000 during the Corona pandemic. By 2024, it decreased to around 7,500 and in the first half of 2025 to about 800. The five ministerial drafts with the most submissions between 2019 and 2023 all related to COVID-19 laws. In total, over 191,000 submissions were made on this topic.

11 out of 36 petitions had a Corona reference between 2019 and 2023

These did not come from "conspiracy theorists or right-wing radicals," but were "the voice of a free people with a free attitude towards democracy and law," emphasized Kickl. People thus stood up against the "authoritarian Corona policy, against a looming vaccination mandate, and against the erosion of our fundamental rights." The FPÖ particularly criticized the ÖVP, as the submissions from citizens were "consistently ignored" by the black-led governments.

Between 2019 and 2023, 11 of the 36 submitted petitions had a Corona reference. The initiative "Vaccination Mandate: Strict NO" received the most submissions, namely 4,703 - one of several that opposed the vaccination mandate decided in 2022 but ultimately not implemented. Additionally, there were nine (out of 151) petitions and seven (out of 74) citizen initiatives that dealt with Corona measures or the restriction of fundamental rights. The ministries have until Sunday, July 6, to answer the remaining Corona inquiries from the FPÖ.

Government criticizes questions

The previous government had already answered over 1,500 parliamentary inquiries on the topic of Corona in the last period and had thus "fully complied" with the parliamentary control right, emphasized the governing parties in a joint statement on Friday. There was criticism once again of the FPÖ's questions. In the current series of inquiries, more than 70 percent of the questions were copied and were repeatedly submitted in hundreds of inquiries.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.