2024-04-10 17:34:22
First, President of the Court of Auditors Kraker was asked about the cash register reform – and then Beate Hartinger-Klein, who ensured that files should remain locked for 25 years.
Former Health Minister Beate Hartinger-Klein (FPÖ) defended her health insurance reform on Wednesday before the U-Committee set up by the ÖVP on the “red-blue abuse of power”. She rejected the allegations that she had handed over documents to the state archives as “private files”.
The social security reform “was and is the right decision,” said Hartinger-Klein, defending himself against criticism of the merger. The goal was to offer the same services with the same contributions. The Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) is now expecting a “black zero” and there are sufficient funds available. The patient billion was “marketing wording” that did not reach the insured in “cash”, but through additional services. According to a 2022 Court of Audit report, the reform cost 215 million euros instead of bringing the promised savings of one billion.
No files shredded?
In any case, she could not have handed over the files to the state archives, said Hartinger-Klein. These were only completed after her term of office and then sent to the ministry by a law firm. She transmitted files to the state archives in accordance with the Federal Archives Act, but they were not “private files”. The law needs to be changed, said the ex-minister. No files were shredded in her ministry either.
The questioning of the former social minister and last respondent of the day ended with the topic of advertisements. She was only involved in their operational switching once, namely when it was a question of whether to switch to “everything roger?” She said no because she didn’t want to support “free media”. Other FPÖ-led ministries in the turquoise-blue government had advertised in right-wing media.
In the early afternoon, President of the Court of Auditors Margit Kraker was also asked about the merger of social security institutions. It based this on an audit report from the Court of Auditors (RH) from 2022. As the report states, the RH had no access to the documents delivered to the archive as “private files” during its audit. The delivery of files to the state archives is regulated in the Federal Archives Act, reminded Kraker, but the RH expects that ministries can provide information about procurement procedures. The transfer of certain files to the state archive was not comprehensible for the RH.
Before the cash reform was discussed, the espionage affair surrounding the former Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Egisto Ott and the raid on the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism (BVT) dominated the meeting. You could start your own U-committee on the topic, said chairman Wolfgang Gerstl (ÖVP), who represented National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) on Wednesday. The Greens explicitly want one. “Egisto Ott can also be invited,” said Gerstl in the direction of the parliamentary groups. (APA/ed.)
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