FPÖ and Beer Party Received Fines

The Beer Party must pay a total of around 15,000 euros in connection with the sale of fan merchandise through a webshop. The Senate sees several violations of the Party Law by the FPÖ - for example, regarding newspaper advertisements and the party organ "Neue Freie Zeitung".

UPTS Agreed with the Court of Audit

The Court of Audit saw a possible impermissible donation in the sale of Beer Party fan merchandise in the webshop of the band Turbobier, whose frontman is party founder Dominik Wlazny. The UPTS agreed with the Court of Audit, stating that the website served as an advertising and sales platform for the Beer Party by one-third. The Beer Party did not report the received donations in the accountability report, and the permissible donation amount was exceeded. Additionally, the party must pay 5,000 euros for a donation reported late to the Court of Audit.

A fine of around 26,000 euros was also imposed on the FPÖ Salzburg. This concerns advertisements by the Freedom Municipal Council Club Salzburg, which promoted the FPÖ Salzburg and its mayoral candidate. The Court of Audit and the UPTS considered this a donation to the party, but the Municipal Council Club does not appear in the donation list of the accountability report.

Violations related to the "Neue Freie Zeitung" cost the FPÖ about 15,500 euros. Among other things, it failed to report income and expenses from its role as a media owner in the accountability report. Additionally, the FPÖ must pay 330 euros because its former club chairman in Upper Austria, Herwig Mahr, accepted in-kind donations in the form of published insertions. Facebook ads were paid for by the Freedom State Parliament Club but showed no connection to it.

Proceedings Against FPÖ Carinthia Dropped

However, the UPTS dropped proceedings against the FPÖ Carinthia regarding a fan shop. According to the Court of Audit, the sale of promotional items by the FPÖ through the fan shop constitutes an advertising measure for the party. However, the UPTS generally disagrees with the view that the affected shop is the fan shop of the FPÖ Carinthia.

(APA/Red)

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