[ad_1]
The Greens vote together with the ÖVP against the repatriation of several deported children, the coalition remains. Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) also survived several motions of no confidence.
6:05 pm, February 4, 2021
For the moment, the coalition has not disintegrated over the dispute over the deportation of three girls to Georgia and Armenia. Despite all the anger over the ÖVP, the Greens did not accept the proposals of the SPÖ and Neos in the National Council on Thursday. Also motions of censure of social democrats and freedom activists against the ministers of the interior Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) remained in the minority.
On the Greens’ side, MP David Stögmüller was particularly critical of the coalition partner. He testified to the “inhuman coldness” of the Interior Minister over the deportations and accused him of not showing humanity at all costs. The basic tenor of his group, however, was that passing the opposition motions was just a political game, but that the government preferred to make a political difference for the refugees, as MEP Bedrana Ribo argued. Silent protest of the green government team It must express the absence of the meeting, with which there was no symbolic support from the coalition partner in the government bench.
In reality, the refugee issue was not the reason for the special session called by the Freedom Party. They complained about the ban on demonstrations against Corona’s measures last weekend and thus targeted the interior minister, who defended himself accordingly. While FP club boss Herbert Kickl said the department head had honestly earned mistrust and worked hard, the person he addressed testified that his predecessor hurt vanity and frustration.
Kickl recognized the ban on demos as an attack on freedom of assembly, and thus freedom of expression. Kickl defended the organizers of the demonstrations. “Peace-loving critics” are vilified and the police incited. The ban is an “intellectual, moral and democratic political revelation.”
Nehammer saw these attacks as due to Kickl’s aggrieved vanity, because he had to leave the ministry. The Minister of the Interior justified the prohibition of the demos, mainly for health reasons. Nehammer denied that there had been pressure from the EU, the federal president or the federal chancellor. The department head repeatedly pointed out that the protesters included neo-Nazis and new right-wing extremists.
The opposition came out in favor of unconditional freedom of assembly. This is one of the most hard-won basic rights, said SPÖ club deputy director Jörg Leichtfried, and: “Yes, I believe that demonstrations, even in times of pandemic, must take place.” “What we’re experiencing here is a bit like a therapy session,” NEOS’s Nikolaus Scherak scoffs, noting that the ÖVP and the FPÖ recently formed a government. Scherak also came out in favor of unconditional freedom of assembly – “something like the mother of fundamental rights” – because: “In a pluralistic society, everyone should have the right to express their opinion.” This is not determined by the ÖVP, but by the constitution.
