Kickl in the U-Committee: All-round blows and some gaps in memory

In places one was reminded of the questioning of the former Chancellery Minister Gernot Blümel (VP) in the Ibiza investigative committee. Even then, the interviewee avoided sensitive answers and could no longer remember many things.

On Thursday, FP chairman Herbert Kickl was invited to provide information in the “red-blue abuse of power” investigative committee. The survey was delayed and started at 4:30 p.m. instead of 1 p.m. Kickl had previously appeared in front of the media: As Interior Minister, he had gained insights into the “ÖVP system”, and today he would shed “light into the darkness”, he announced. But he will do it “objectively”. But he still handed things out, accusing the ÖVP of haggling and complete failure in the Ministry of the Interior and the SPÖ of “cooperating” with the ÖVP.

Domestic politics

Bruises

A committee that reveals more than expected

by Christoph Kotanko

Bruises

Kickl did not fulfill his promise to answer objectively. Procedural judge Christa Edwards had said the day before that the latest revelations about Russian espionage were not an issue for the U-Committee. Nevertheless, she was the first to ask questions about the former Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Egisto Ott. She wanted to know why he was working in the Interior Ministry again after his suspension from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism (BVT). Kickl shrugged off responsibility. The then head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Peter Gridling, did not inform him that Ott was “a problem case”. To this day he doesn’t know Ott himself.

Refusal to testify

The green group leader in the U-Committee, Meri Disoski, began the political question and answer session. She wanted to know from Kickl what his relationship was with the former FP mandater Hans-Jörg Jenewein. Chats had recently become known according to which Jenewein Ott had promised a higher position for his services in the BVT. “Jenewein was not an employee of mine in my work as the highest body,” Kickl evaded. Despite asking, Kickl didn’t want to be more specific. VP mandate Wolfgang Gerstl, who chaired the meeting instead of National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka, threatened, in consultation with the procedural judge, that this would be seen as a refusal to testify.

FP parliamentary group leader Christian Hafenecker was constantly in touch, insisting on the rules of procedure and demanding a stand in order to clarify the procedure. “It is simply wrong to claim that Jenewein was my right hand,” Kickl finally explained.

Kickl repeatedly evaded, saying: “I have no idea about it.” When it came to giving out advertisements to right-wing media, he said: “I can’t remember anything about it.” As a minister he was busy with other issues; the department was one of the largest.

Neos faction leader Yannick Shetty wanted to know more about Kickl’s contacts with former Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek. He referred to the book by ex-FP boss Heinz-Christian Strache, in which he writes that FP club chairman Johann Gudenus once accompanied Marsalek to Kickl in the interior department. Kickl replied succinctly: “To be honest, I haven’t read the book.”

The ÖVP tried to address Kickl’s proximity to the head of the Identitarian Movement Martin Sellner. The SPÖ wanted to clarify whether the FP chairman had personally enriched himself through awards. Kickl appeared increasingly tense, sometimes attacked the questioners, spoke of “Puss and Judy shows” and “election campaign farce”.

Accusations against ÖVP

Early in the morning, Kickl’s head of communications at the Ministry of the Interior was questioned about the allocation of advertisements to FP-affiliated media such as “unzensuriert.at” and “Wochenblick”. The interviewee turned the tables and made it a match of blue versus black. He reported that Kickl’s predecessor Sobotka had tendered a contract for consulting services worth 800,000 euros just a few days before the handover of office. In addition, Sobotka placed advertisements on an internet platform where a close relative of his worked.