According to a planned amendment to the law, staff in ministerial offices will be allowed to access the social media accounts of government members. The fact that this regulation is to apply retroactively and would thus also affect ongoing proceedings concerning the ÖVP, Neos, and the Greens has caused some excitement in recent days. The Greens have now abandoned this clause and approached the governing parties with a corresponding request for amendment.
In a statement on Wednesday, acting parliamentary group leader Sigrid Maurer said that the impression had been created that the fines imposed by the Independent Party Transparency Senate (UPTS) were also to be avoided. However, this is an absolutely irrelevant point for the Greens. They are confident that they will win the pending proceedings before the Federal Administrative Court. Accordingly, the retroactive effect for the ongoing proceedings should be removed from the text of the law.
Decision planned next week
The amendment is expected to be passed in the National Council next week. Changes are still possible until then. An amendment to the Political Parties Act is intended to legally permit the participation of employees in ministerial offices at the federal and state levels under certain conditions.
The prerequisite for this is that the posts on these accounts are clearly distinguished from party-political content – i.e., limited to government work and government communications – and are explicitly marked. The same should apply, analogously, to the social media accounts of parliamentary group leaders and members of parliament. This would prevent such contributions from being considered donations, thus eliminating penalties. (APA)
