Insert in “Austria Safe”: Greens criticize Karner
In 2022, the Ministry of the Interior paid almost 110,000 euros for advertisements to the magazine “Österreich Sicherheit”. Since 2016, advertisements worth 847,000 euros have been placed in the magazine, according to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) in response to a parliamentary question from the Greens. The reason for the request was an article in which the Russian war of aggression was presented as easily avoidable. The text also knows of a culprit: the United States.
“Österreich Sicherheit” is published quarterly and is available free of charge in some grocery stores, goes to police and army offices and around 250,000 households. The reason for a parliamentary question from the Greens was the cover story of the second edition in 2022 entitled “The evil game of the great powers: The world as a king’s gambit”.
Chess allegories run throughout the text, with Ukraine taking on the role of the pawn, or rather the pawn sacrifice. “If the US only wanted to,” the “war would have been avoidable” and could also “be ended,” the article says. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is described as “self-defence”.
Karner will promote security dialogue
According to the cover text, the magazine “Official Partner Magazine” is a campaign by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Karner rejects this in the response to the inquiry. “The term “official partner magazine” was chosen freely by the publisher and without consulting the Federal Criminal Police Office. After contacting the medium, this designation will no longer be used by the magazine in the future.”
The aim of the advertisements is to make the initiative “GEMEINSAM.SICHER in Österreich”, which wants to promote the “partnership-based security dialogue between citizens and the police”, better known. The questioner, the Green MP Eva Blimlinger, sees things differently. “I don’t see any information in the Interior Ministry’s advertisements either, except that people should go to the police.”
Regarding the statements responsible for the Ukraine war, the answer says “The statements in no way reflect the official position of the BMI”. In addition, the Ministry of the Interior cannot provide any information as to whether there will be advertisements in “Österreich Sicherheit” in the future. In the response to the query, one invokes freedom of expression.