“The direction is right,” says FPÖ Secretary General Christian Hafenecker, who does not yet trust the ÖVP and the Greens. “First of all, you have to look at the text of the law that is being presented. We have learned one thing: that the devil is in the details.” Hafenecker, whose party has had cash at the top of the agenda for years, is still skeptical about Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s (ÖVP) move. “I don’t trust the ÖVP and the Greens. We have to look at whether this isn’t just theatrical thunder during the festival season or whether it’s actually something resilient. Nehammer doesn’t even seem to have a majority for it in his own party.” If it ever comes to that, you have to look at which legal text is presented. One thing has been learned, according to Hafenecker: “That there is always corresponding small print with such changes.”
Hafenecker insists on a few key demands that are already included in the cash referendum: for example, the means of payment must be anchored in the constitution and that unrestricted cash payments must generally be possible. “We can fully agree with these demands,” says the Secretary General. In any case, Hafenecker said they were not invited to the government’s cash summit in September, but he doubted that anything would come of it anyway.
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Demand for excess tax profit for banks
Apart from the cash payments, Hafenecker also renewed the demand for an excess profit tax for banks based on the Italian model. Income should flow earmarked to people who can no longer afford a roof over their heads. The banks would write massive profits from the latest rate hikes and not pass them on. Measures in Italy should serve as a model. In this context one is also in contact with the governing party Fratelli d’Italia.
The FPÖ is also in contact with the parliamentary groups of other parties, for example when it comes to a possible further parliamentary committee of inquiry. Hafenecker thinks that such a person should deal with the Kika/Leiner case, for example. But the events surrounding Cofag could also be an issue, possibly all together in a sub-committee. “There are loose talks that are being held. It’s not as if the shutters have fallen down between the opposition groups,” says the liberal general secretary, who has already been the leader of his party on previous U-committees.
“Are the only party that is debt free”
According to Hafenecker, the FPÖ had long assumed that there would be an early national election, but now the door is closing. “We could certainly start an election campaign right away,” he says. Campaigns are constantly running, the topic box is “fully stocked”. And: “We are the only party that is debt-free.” The top candidate has not yet been approved by the committees for the upcoming EU elections. However, Hafenecker does not assume that it will be anyone other than Harald Vilimsky, as he says.
Hafenecker sharply criticizes the reintroduction of the right-wing extremism report, as there is already a report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which should suffice. The FPÖ General Secretary is particularly struck by the fact that the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW) was commissioned to do this. There is even a court ruling that allows the association to be called a “communist camouflage organization”, and there are also verifiable contacts between DÖW employees and left-wing extremists, antifa groups prepared to use violence. “It’s an open provocation to let them do that.” Hafenecker believes that this is a concession by the ÖVP to the Green coalition partner.
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Cash in good shape: ÖVP still divided
VIENNA. In the ongoing debate on whether cash should be enshrined in the constitution, there are still disagreements within the ÖVP.
Cash in good shape: ÖVP still divided
In response “to this provocation,” Hafenecker can imagine writing an annual report on left-wing extremism. He wants to lay the foundation for this with a series of parliamentary questions that deal with the financing of a number of organizations and people that the FPÖ considers far left. “We see that as our task after the authorities fail in this regard.” Hafenecker also identifies “climate extremism” as a new phenomenon in the left-wing extremist spectrum.
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domestic policy
Cash: Edtstadler confirms plan to be anchored in the constitution
VIENNA. After the – also within the party – criticism at the weekend, Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) announced the ÖVP’s plan on Monday.
Cash: Edtstadler confirms plan to be anchored in the constitution
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