2024-03-26 12:41:16
Peter Westenthaler, board member of the ORF on a ticket from Herbert Kickl’s Freedom Party, is massively critical of the budget levy. The FPÖ also described the ORF as a “political fighting organ”.
Peter Westenthaler, who was recently appointed to the ORF Foundation Board on an FPÖ ticket, considers the budget tax introduced on January 1st to be unlawful in its current form. In a press conference on Tuesday, he referred to a lawyer’s letter signed by former BZÖ board member Alexander Scheer, among others, and called for a special meeting of the ORF committee.
There is no legally compliant ORF contribution because the procedure for determining the amount was not changed when the law was reformed or the board of trustees did not determine the amount. The letter says that 15.30 euros per month was only defined as an upper limit. As a result, Westenthaler saw a “massive danger of delay” because as soon as even one decision was overturned in court, there could be an obligation to repay all contributions received so far.
The ORF and the federal government could have avoided all of this if budget financing had been introduced, Westenthaler repeated his well-known position. He also described as “nonsense” the fact that the amount of the levy for companies depends on the amount of wages paid. In any case, it is unreasonable for private households, and the discussion about its administration is unbearable for the ORF.
FPÖ General Secretary and media spokesman Christian Hafenecker criticized the public media company in the press conference. He identified a politicization against the Freedom Party, saying that “all the dams had been broken” and that the ORF was acting as a “political fighting organ”.
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