Emerges from mail

Hartinger-Klein allegedly had files destroyed

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

Former Health Minister Beate Hartinger-Klein (FPÖ) is said to have had numerous files from her ministry destroyed in 2019. This is according to documents submitted to the committee of inquiry into the "red-blue abuse of power".

For example, an email sent by an official to two colleagues at the Ministry of Health in May 2019 states that he contacted an employee of the former minister "to pack paper documents under lock and key in archive boxes to the state archives." It turned out that all the paper had been destroyed on a large scale, the report continues.

Electronic files already handed over
Only electronic files that had also been handed over to the state archives had been excluded. In addition, the official was told that the head of the cabinet office had called the archive to announce "that no physical documents from our department were to be expected."

Criticism of former Health Minister Beate Hartinger-Klein was already voiced a few weeks ago. The Greens wanted to address the merger of the social insurance institutions in the U Committee, but the Court of Auditors was unable to inspect many files. They were sealed as "private" on May 22, 2019 and therefore blocked for 25 years, it said. The State Archives currently have no sanction or access options in this case.

Shredding ban rejected
This sparked a debate as to whether a reform of the Federal Archives Act was necessary. Last week, the NEOS introduced a motion to set a deadline, which stipulates an "archiving obligation for all professional messages and channels of the highest state bodies" and demands consequences in the event of non-compliance. The motion was rejected with the votes of the ÖVP and the Greens. Meri Disoski from the Greens argued, among other things, that the point was missing that archived files would remain under lock and key for decades under current law.