Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) complied with the suggestion of a majority of GECKO members on Monday evening to dissolve them prematurely. The “Kurier” had previously reported that the GECKO members Major General Thomas Starlinger, the virologist Andreas Bergthaler and the simulation researcher Niki Popper wanted to leave the commission before the end of its term.
The newspaper report said that Chancellor Nehammer’s statement that one had “listened too much to experts” during the pandemic had caused severe irritation among them. However, the actual decisive factor was the developments in Lower Austria. There, the ÖVP and FPÖ had decided in their working agreement to stop all advertising measures for the coronavirus vaccination and to pay back CoV penalties.
Bergthaler: Due to “political developments”.
Bergthaler confirmed on Tuesday on the short message service Twitter that he and other members at the meeting had announced their departure from the commission in April. “My motivations were due to political developments,” says Bergthaler, “which I could no longer reconcile with the original consulting mandate. Another reason was the unclear work order until the planned end of the committee in June.” This also has to do with the fact that the “acute crisis no longer exists in this form,” Bergthaler continued.
Popper: “You can hear the loud and rumbling sounds”
According to his own statements, simulation researcher Popper agreed with Bergthaler’s arguments. He too had announced his departure for April. In the meantime, models for questions that can be asked in GECKO (for formal reasons) are less useful, he wrote on Twitter. Other questions “are now more important, such as the interaction of Covid-19 with other infections” and integrated care between hospitals and doctors.
On the other hand, he “critically assesses” the development outside of the committee, Popper continued. “You hear the noise and the banging (from all sides). But science should help to ensure that the quiet ones are heard. I see the danger that some of our progress in Gecko will be lost again,” he tweeted. The infectiologist Herwig Kollaritsch told the ZIB that he had not been able to do any significant work for GECKO since December, which was reflected in a political decision.
Located in the Chancellery
GECKO was founded in December 2021 by a decision of the Council of Ministers. The committee is headed by Katharina Reich, Director General for Public Health, and Chief of Staff Rudolf Striedinger. The commission, which consists of around 20 experts, is based in the Federal Chancellery.
The tasks defined were the prediction of the development of the pandemic, the formulation of “recommendations for political decisions” and ensuring a nationwide coordinated approach, especially in the areas of vaccination, testing and drug supply.
GECKO is dissolved
The national Covid crisis coordination (GECKO) will be dissolved three months earlier than planned. Virologist Andreas Bergthaler and simulation researcher Niki Popper wanted to leave the Cov advisory board on Monday due to current political developments.
Chancellor Nehammer thanked Monday evening “expressly for the voluntary work of the experts who have accompanied the Federal Government during this difficult time, supported and advised them with their expertise”. After the meeting on Monday, GECKO manager Striedinger said that he did not feel disregarded by politicians: “The Federal Chancellor has always listened to us,” he said – but now the time has come when the judgment has come that the consulting work is no longer necessary.
Energy “disproportionate to the effect”
However, the relationship between the committee and politicians was not always easy from the start. On December 22, 2021, in view of the then approaching omicron wave, Reich announced tightening, including bringing the curfew forward. The group’s proposals were unanimously accepted by the federal and state governments, Reich emphasized.
What followed was severe criticism, particularly from business. According to media reports, individual GECKO members were already dissatisfied with being put forward by politicians when announcing unpopular measures.
Another point of contention followed in spring 2022. Despite the high number of infections, the government announced extensive opening steps. The Commission was apparently not consulted in advance, which caused resentment. “There was a risk that this was an alibi action by the government and that we were only using it as a fig leaf, not to say being abused,” the domestic politics journalist Josef Votzi quoted some GECKO members in his “Trend” column at the time. “This suspicion is now beginning to be more than confirmed.”
Foitik turned his back on Commission
ÖVP Minister of Education Martin Polaschek referred to GECKO’s “overall assessment” when he decided to almost completely abolish the obligation to wear masks in schools. Members of the panel immediately denied this. One of them was the Federal Rescue Commander of the Red Cross, Gerry Foitik, who turned his back on GECKO almost exactly a year ago.
Foitik justified his departure from ZIB2 not only with the “occasional” impression that GECKO was instrumentalized by politics. The first reason he gave was that in his Red Cross function he was oriented towards empathy and solidarity with the weakest – but at the moment “it is often only acknowledged with a shrug” that around 200 people die of Covid-19 every week. In addition, it had become clear to him that the energy put into GECKO “was not in any reasonable proportion to the effect”.
Rauch: Timing “of course no coincidence”
Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) paid tribute to the work of the experts on Tuesday. He also addressed hostilities from outside, which had gone as far as denying scientific facts and research results that had been confirmed many times. That was “unbearable,” said Rauch.
“The recommendation of the members to dissolve the committee must of course be noted. The fact that this is happening at a time when scientific findings are being questioned by a state government is of course no coincidence,” he said – probably with a view to Lower Austria.
In the ÖVP-FPÖ working agreement, it was agreed, among other things, that the state of Lower Austria would not carry out any further advertising measures for the CoV vaccination. “Vaccination saved thousands of lives in Austria. I will make that clear in the future as well,” emphasized Rauch.
Kickl sees overdue step
FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl described the early GECKO dissolution on Tuesday as “long overdue”. But this comes “like so much of this black-green federal government on the subject of Covid much too late and can certainly not undo what happened”.
“That’s why we Liberals demand real clarification of the corona events and interdependencies in a parliamentary committee of inquiry and continue to invite all parties to do so,” said Kickl.
