Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) has received a rejection from the National Security Council with his package of demands following the thwarted attack on a Taylor Swift concert. None of the other factions agreed to demands such as the surveillance of messengers, a tightening of the party law and an extension of detention for non-deradicalized people. Instead, there was a broad majority in favor of a review of the state security operation.
Before the meeting, the Greens and the FPÖ had already urged that the DSN Control Commission should examine the interaction of the individual domestic services in connection with the thwarted attack. The SPÖ and NEOS also agreed. Only the ÖVP voted against the Greens’ corresponding request to the Interior Minister. Greens’ club leader Sigrid Maurer assumed that the department head would comply with the request.
Initiatives by the Greens and the SPÖ to establish new rules for security personnel also gained a majority. As FPÖ security spokesman Hannes Amesbauer regretted, a liberal proposal to create a law banning political Islam was rejected.
The ÖVP remained alone when it came to the package announced by the Chancellor. Maurer justified the no vote by saying that measures should not be rushed into action, such as tightening the right to assembly. The FPÖ rejected, among other things, the monitoring of messenger services. SP leader Andreas Babler is cautious in this regard. It must be ensured that “there is no crude mass surveillance”. The government should come up with a proposal “that holds”. NEOS General Secretary Douglas Hoyos had already expressed skepticism before the meeting. “Whenever something happens, people immediately cry out for more powers.” However, he does not want to give a final assessment until he has received the draft bill from the Interior Ministry.
After the meeting, Hoyos was once again annoyed about the structure of the Security Council, which he wants to see converted into a genuine advisory body. He did not think that the information gained from today’s discussion was very valuable. Babler also still had a number of unanswered questions after the two-hour discussion.
