The terrorist act in Germany highlights the urgency of protecting the population from terrorists as best as possible, says the ÖVP.
After the terrorist shootings in Munich, ÖVP General Secretary Stocker appealed to the other parties: “All parties must finally rethink and agree to new powers such as messenger surveillance. The terrorist act in Germany has shown mercilessly how important it is to grant our investigative authorities the necessary powers to protect people from terrorists.”
Proceedings against perpetrators were discontinued
Because the proceedings against the Munich shooter, an 18-year-old Austrian, have been dropped, Stocker sees a need for political action: “Proceedings against the suspected attacker for involvement in a terrorist organization have been dropped. This shows that without messenger surveillance, the authorities do not have the necessary tools to convict terrorists in specific cases of suspicion. Austria is also the only country in Europe where messenger surveillance is not possible. Our intelligence services need the technical and legal powers to be able to effectively combat extremism and terrorism, in particular the monitoring of messenger services. In addition to monitoring messenger services, we also need the reintroduction of mandatory pre-trial detention, a tightening of the law on associations and assembly, and a law banning political Islam.”
