"File a complaint!"

NEOS politician criticizes the Wöginger verdict

The young pink hopeful Sophie Wotschke openly criticizes her own coalition partner.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Thomas Topf, FOTOKERSCHI.AT)

The black party leader August Wöginger got off lightly in his trial for abuse of authority. Initially, the ÖVP's coalition partners were extremely reticent - but now NEOS National Councillor Sophie Wotschke is daring to come out of the woodwork and sharply criticizes the ÖVP and the diversion.

The non-appealable diversion for ÖVP party chairman August Wöginger in his trial for abuse of authority in connection with the occupation of the Braunau tax office came as a surprise. Almost more surprising for political observers, however, were the extremely cautious comments of the SPÖ and NEOS on the subject.

Although both parties are currently in government with the ÖVP, they openly criticized Wöginger before joining the government. After a few days of calm, however, NEOS National Councillor Sophie Wotschke, also JUNOS chairwoman and group leader in the upcoming Pilnacek committee of inquiry, is now pushing ahead.

"Diversion means that a conviction for determining abuse of office would have been likely," explains the aspiring Pink politician on X, formerly Twitter. The ÖVP and Wöginger would thus be denying misconduct and instead "framing" abuse of office as public service. According to Wotschke, the assumption of responsibility cannot end at the courtroom door. The WKStA should lodge a complaint, the young pink hopeful concludes.

The NEOS parliamentary club apparently does not share this view: "The judiciary does not need any shouts from politicians," it says in a statement. Diversion must be respected. They did not see Wotschke's comments as a call for his resignation: "The ÖVP alone decides who is club chairman of the ÖVP". What irritates many people, however, is that "some people" are now acting as if nothing had happened and as if a diversion was an acquittal. The outcome of the proceedings and the fine clearly showed: "Something has happened here that does not correspond to our understanding of clean politics."

Krisper withdrew
Wotschke's colleague, whistleblower Stephanie Krisper, already caused a stir on Friday. She had become estranged from her party in terms of content and was therefore resigning her seat on the National Council. The decisive factor was also that her sphere of influence had been "reduced to such an extent" by the NEOS' participation in government that she "no longer saw any point in parliamentary activity", Krisper said in an initial statement.

The former deputy leader of the NEOS is now making room for someone else and is seeking an orderly retirement.