Pilnacek inquiry panel seeks testimony from Edtstadler and Kurz

Austria’s Pilnacek inquiry committee has requested testimony from Salzburg Governor Karoline Edtstadler and former chancellor Sebastian Kurz, ORF reported on Friday.

The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) asked the committee to summon both. Edtstadler is to be questioned about her time as minister for European affairs and constitutional matters in the Federal Chancellery, a role she held from 2020 to 2025. The FPÖ said Kurz had relevant information because he was an ÖVP politician who had contact with Christian Pilnacek.

No dates have been set for their appearances. Chancellor Christian Stocker is scheduled to appear on October 21, followed by former National Council president Wolfgang Sobotka on October 22. The committee’s current timetable envisages completing its evidence hearings on November 3.

The updated witness list also includes the deputy chief of staff to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and a police officer from Lower Austria’s provincial traffic department who dealt with Pilnacek’s wrong-way drive.

The FPÖ has also requested that the Justice Ministry provide raw data from Pilnacek’s electronic devices. No other parliamentary group objected. The party said the Interior Ministry had not yet supplied training materials for police officers summoned to testify, and that both the Interior and Justice ministries were late in providing requested documents. The FPÖ, together with the Greens in the case of the Justice Ministry, rejected the ministries’ explanations and set a 14-day extension for delivery.