Fallen confidant

FPÖ comeback despite trial and party resignation

The blue former top politician Hans-Jörg Jenewein is celebrating a parliamentary comeback for the Freedom Party(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AFP/Joe Klamar, stock.adobe.com)

He's back! The fallen Kickl confidant Hans-Jörg Jenewein is celebrating a comeback in the FPÖ despite the ongoing espionage trial and his resignation from the party more than two years ago. In future, he will be responsible for education as a parliamentary staff member.

His departure from the Freedom Party in the summer of 2022 was inglorious. After internal party disputes, including charges against de facto the entire head of his Vienna FPÖ regional group and house searches in the "Ott espionage case", Hans-Jörg Jenewein was dismissed by the parliamentary club. A few days later, the 50-year-old former blue national councillor resigned from the party himself.

Now, more than two years later, Jenewein is surprisingly celebrating a comeback through the back door despite an ongoing espionage trial on suspicion of violating official secrecy - he is alleged to have passed on secret information and cell phone photos of state security agents from the U Committee to ex-BVT agent Egisto Ott.

"Everyone deserves a second chance"
Because Kickl's fallen confidant and security spokesperson is working for Upper Austrian MP Hermann Brückl in the new legislative period after the National Council elections. The "Krone" investigated. For the FPÖ education spokesman, everyone deserves a second chance. "I have been friends with Hans-Jörg Jenewein for 15 years. I never had a dispute with him. If there is a conviction, the situation will have to be reassessed anyway."

Jenewein case as a model for Strache comeback?
When asked by the party leadership whether the former top politician had rejoined the party, they referred to "personal data". The "Krone" naturally also tried to get an answer from Hans-Jörg Jenewein - but this was not forthcoming for the time being.

According to reports, not everyone in the party is enthusiastic about the comeback. Whether the "blue forgiveness" will also be enough for former FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache, who is speculating about a political comeback in the Vienna elections next year, seems rather unlikely.