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2000
The black and blue government decides to buy new interceptors.
2002
July: The guy’s decision surprisingly ends with a win for the Eurofighter as Draken’s successor. Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP) estimates the cost of 24 jets at 1,791 million euros.
August: Due to the flood of the century, the government decides to reduce the number from 24 to 18.
2003
July: The Eurofighter contract is signed.
2006
October: With the votes of the SPÖ, FPÖ and Greens, the National Council creates a commission of inquiry to acquire the plane.
2007
January: Government negotiations end with the SPÖ-ÖVP agreement. The Eurofighter issue is outside the government agenda. The new Defense Minister Norbert Darabos (SPÖ) receives an order from Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer (SPÖ) to negotiate with EADS an exit or a price reduction.
April: “Air Chief” Erich Wolf, responsible for the introduction of the Eurofighter, is temporarily suspended from his duties and denounced after it emerged that EADS lobbyist Erhard Steininger had paid his wife € 87,600. About four years later, however, the Vienna prosecution closed the criminal proceedings against the now-retired Wolf, his wife, lobbyist Steininger and the Rumpold couple.
June: Darabos reports a comparison with Eurofighter GmbH, according to which the number is reduced from 18 to 15.
2008
August: a report from the Court of Accounts puts the savings mentioned by Darabos in perspective through comparison and criticizes the processes in the conduct of the negotiations.
2009
September: the last of the 15 Eurofighters lands at Hinterstoisser airbase.
2011
May: New investigations by the Vienna Public Prosecutor begin.
2012
November: Establishment of the Eurofighter Contract Working Group in the Ministry of Defense and the Counter-Strikes Working Group in the Department of Economy.
2014
February: Airbus Group, formerly EADS, completes its internal investigation into alleged facilitation payments in connection with the sale of the Eurofighters to Austria. There is no information on the content of the report. According to media reports, a British company called “City Chambers Limited” is said to have raised around eight million euros from lobbying in Austria between 2003 and 2009.
2015
The Ministry of Economic Affairs follows a ruling of the Administrative Court and publishes all Eurofighter counter-agreements.
2017
February: publication of the Eurofighter working group report. Hans Peter Dokozil’s Ministry of Defense (SPÖ) reports against Airbus. This is the suspicion of fraudulent and fraudulent deception, among other things in the purchase price of the jets. The Republic of Austria also joins the criminal process as a private party and demands millionaire compensation.
March: At the request of the Freedom Party and the Greens, the National Council creates a new U-Committee. Interviews with witnesses reveal little news. Due to new elections in the fall, the committee cannot address all issues and will end in July.
July: Defense Minister Doskozil announces the departure of the Eurofighter from 2020. In the future there will only be one instead of two fleets of aircraft. A special commission recommends 15 single-seat and three two-seat supersonic aircraft.
2018
February: Munich prosecutors discontinue years of bribery proceedings against Airbus for selling the Eurofighter to Austria, against a fine of 81 million euros. Investigations by the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office on fraud, bribery, money laundering and breach of trust continue.
March: The third U-Committee is created to buy the Eurofighters. The 440-page final document criticizes members of the black and blue government under Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP), but also the aircraft manufacturer EADS / Eurofighter. However, no proof of individual bribery is provided.
2019
January: Eurofighter investigations move from the previously responsible prosecutor’s office in Vienna to the corporate and corruption prosecutor’s office (WKStA).
March: in Munich, two parties involved in the Airbus corruption scandal surrounding the sale of Eurofighters to Austria are sentenced to suspended sentences. A former Airbus director and another defendant were sentenced to prison for serious breach of trust and complicity. In six cases, investigations are suspended because those affected have already been convicted in a similar context in Germany or because prosecutors in Austria are attacking them.
April: Eurofighter investigations against former Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser are suspended following a request from his lawyer Manfred Ainedter.
2020
January: Concrete plans for the design of airspace surveillance and the future of Eurofighters are sought in vain in the turquoise green government program. There is only a “commitment to airspace surveillance”; it must be implemented through a “suitable and cost-effective solution”.
February: Airbus confessed to the US authorities that it acted unfairly by purchasing a Eurofighter in Austria. Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) demands a repair from the aircraft manufacturer. The chairman of the Financial Prosecutor’s Office and short-term Interior Minister Wolfgang Peschorn awaits an indictment against Airbus in Austria
April: Vienna Criminal Court closes proceedings on Doskozil’s fraud report. Investigations into suspected money laundering, breach of trust and corruption are still ongoing, emphasizes the WKStA.
July: Defense Minister Tanner allows the armed forces’ 50-year-old Saab 105 to fly and is currently only relying on Eurofighters for aerial surveillance until contract exit is possible. Indonesia is interested in buying the plane.
November: Hopes of getting rid of the Eurofighters by legal means are finally dashed into thin air. The Vienna Higher Regional Court rejects the complaints of the WKStA and the Republic against the suspension of the investigation on suspicion of fraud in the acquisition of the Eurofighter in 2003 and the so-called agreement in 2007 by the Regional Criminal Court. Other procedural complexes are still open, according to the WKStA.
