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The president of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP), will not resign as chair of the Ibiza Investigation Committee, according to his spokesman. Next week, however, the president will be represented by MP Andreas Hanger (ÖVP), he said. Sobotka was unable to attend due to other appointments, including the presidential conference of the National Council.
On Wednesday it became known that the Novomatic games company not only financially supported the “Alois-Mock-Institut” founded by Sobotka, but also the Waidhofen an der Ybbs chamber orchestra and the Lower Austrian AAB, whose president is the politician ÖVP . In addition, support for the Mock Institute was significantly higher than previously known, with 109,000 euros.
Novomatic in focus
In relation to the casino issue, the Novomatic gaming group is one of the central themes of the investigation committee. The committee also addresses the question raised by the Ibiza video about whether companies can buy political influence through covert donations from parties. Here too, Heinz-Christian Strache’s saying “Novomatic pays everyone” focuses the group.
After the SPÖ and Neos, the Greens recently asked Sobotka to suspend the presidency. Sobotka justified the payments through his office stating that most of the expenses were from Novomatic for events organized jointly with the Mock Institute, so the money did not go directly to the institute. Sobotka has yet to declare himself to the latest revelations.
The withdrawal would be “good for the institution”
Criticism came on Friday from the ÖVP: “The debate has reached such a level that Sobotka should say that he is definitively withdrawing from the presidency,” former president of the Second National Council, Heinrich Neisser (ÖVP) said in an online report. from the “Krone”. “.
The U-Committee is an essential instrument of parliament, a withdrawal of Sobotka “would benefit this institution.” If Neisser has his way, the second president of the National Council, Doris Bures (SPÖ), should take the presidency. The Greens recently called for Sobotka to step down from the presidency until the allegations against her are cleared up. (apa)
