Ministry of the Interior Bombarded with Inquiries by FPÖ

The inquiries to the Ministry of the Interior were mostly submitted by the FPÖ. The ministry criticizes that significant time resources of the police are tied up in answering these inquiries.

Over 200 Inquiries to the Ministry of the Interior in This Legislative Period

In total, 237 inquiries have been submitted to the Ministry of the Interior in the current legislative period. The majority (179) came from the Freedom Party. In the previous legislative period (October 2019 to October 2024), there were nearly 2,800 inquiries. Almost half of them were submitted by FPÖ members. Of the 100 inquiries, some are designed in such a way that they are split into nine by requesting values for each federal state. This includes, for example, police operations in asylum accommodations and public transport. The same applies to questions about staffing levels, drug-related crime, and the threat potential from Islamist extremism. It is suspected in the Ministry of the Interior that the aim is merely to provide deputies from the federal states with numbers more conveniently.

Ministry of the Interior Must Allocate Around 30 Working Hours per Inquiry for Response

The ministry also criticizes that the majority of parliamentary inquiries are so detailed that the existing electronic records are far from sufficient for answering them. On average, around 30 working hours need to be allocated within the ministry for a response, claims the department. Among the special "highlights" is an inquiry from April, submitted by Harald Thau, a professional officer at the company fire brigade and FPÖ deputy. The subject of this inquiry is whether fire extinguishers with a specific substance are used in the Ministry of the Interior and its subordinate offices, such as police stations (there are around 900 police stations throughout Austria). This would mean that all fire extinguishers in more than 900 offices and in the approximately 6,000 service vehicles - which also have fire extinguishers - would have to be checked. It is currently being examined whether such an effort is even remotely proportionate and can be expected of the employees.

(APA/Red)

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