FPÖ Bombards Government with 827 Inquiries on Corona Policy

Five years after the start of the Corona pandemic, the FPÖ is focusing on the measures taken by the government at that time. The "Corona review" is initially not to take place within the framework of a parliamentary committee of inquiry as announced before the National Council election, but through a flood of parliamentary inquiries, as FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl announced on Tuesday. A total of 827 inquiries were to be submitted to parliament by the Blues on Tuesday.

FPÖ wants to review Corona period with 827 parliamentary inquiries

Kickl spoke of a "parliamentary grand offensive" of a magnitude never seen before at a press conference where the inquiries were presented in transparent boxes. This is necessary to review the "biggest attack on fundamental and freedom rights" of the Second Republic and the "billion-dollar grave" that the then turquoise-green government dug with the Corona measures. Indirectly, the aim is to force the government to take stock of the Corona pandemic, according to the FPÖ leader.

Specifically, the FPÖ is submitting 15 collective inquiries directed at all departments, 5 collective inquiries collecting data from the individual federal states, as well as 572 individual inquiries. Of these, 203 concern the health department, 191 the Federal Chancellery, 56 the Ministry of Education, 24 the Ministry of Economic Affairs, 23 the Ministry of Finance, 16 each for the Vice Chancellery and the Ministry of Science, 12 the Ministry of the Interior, and single-digit inquiries for the remaining ministries, with one also going to National Council President Walter Rosenkranz (FPÖ).

The inquiries aim to examine every single regulation issued during the Corona pandemic, the decision-making process, vaccine procurement, as well as Covid subsidies for the economy and the pandemic's consequences, as explained by FPÖ constitutional spokesperson Michael Schilchegger, who is responsible for a large portion of the inquiries.

Flood of Requests Just the First Step: Topic to be Explored Further in Inquiry Committee

The goal is to obtain "an MRI image of the Corona madness," stated Kickl. However, the series of requests is just the first step and the basis for further Corona investigation, he emphasized. Subsequently, within the framework of "the Corona component" of the planned inquiry committee into the Ministry of the Interior, which is to deal with the events surrounding the death of former Justice Section Chief Christian Pilnacek, the topic will be pursued further. He also did not rule out a "completely separate Corona inquiry committee" during this legislative period, said Kickl.

Karner Annoyed by Effort Required for Responses

The ÖVP accused the Freedom Party of paralyzing the administration with the wave of requests. "And all this just out of frustration that Herbert Kickl got cold feet at the last moment, did not want to become Chancellor, and now dissatisfaction within his own party is rising," suspected ÖVP General Secretary Nico Marchetti in a statement. "Our administrative employees are there to do work for the Austrians and are not a political plaything of the Freedom Party," he criticized.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP), who recently complained about the high costs and effort required to respond to numerous requests from the FPÖ, was accused by Kickl of "discrediting" a parliamentary control instrument of the opposition. He dismissed the cited costs for data collection as "fake news" and warned of dangerous developments for democracy like in Germany. He described the classification of the AfD there as securely right-wing extremist as a "major attack by a politically instrumentalized constitutional protection" on a party.

(APA/Red)

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