The EU Commission had originally planned to present the Competitiveness Compass today. But the text is not quite ready yet, and the Commission President, who wanted to present it, is still recovering from her severe pneumonia. According to a draft “list des points prévus” – the Commission’s expected agenda for the coming weeks – the Compass is now due to be announced on Jan. 29.
The aim is to set out the direction of EU economic policy for the coming years. The Compass is intended to synthesize the three major reports of the past year by Enrico Letta, Mario Draghi and Sauli Niinistö and turn their recommendations into EU objectives. However, senior Commission representatives warn against expecting too much from the Compass. It will not contain much that is not already in the Commission President’s political guidelines and the Commissioners’ mission letters.
Things are only likely to get a little more concrete on Feb. 26. This is when the Commission plans to present the Clean Industrial Deal, as well as the omnibus package to reduce reporting obligations and an action plan for affordable energy.
We wish you a pleasant start to the day!
During Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s first term in office, representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were given significantly more access to Commissioners and their cabinet members than before. This gave them the opportunity to influence the legislative proposals of the Fit for 55 strategy in particular.
Commissioners and their cabinet members have met with NGO representatives 2747 times in the past five years. That is 200 meetings or eight percent more than in the Juncker Commission. This is the result of an analysis carried out by Table.Briefings on the basis of data published by the Commission in the Transparency Register.
In December, an Analysis by Table.Briefings showed that the total number of lobby contacts by the Commission under Ursula von der Leyen had fallen by 19 percent. The new data shows that the slump in contacts with business representatives is the cause of this development. The first Commission under von der Leyen met significantly fewer individual companies and business associations at Commissioner and Cabinet level than the Juncker Commission: 1,600 fewer meetings with individual companies and 1,500 fewer meetings with business associations. This corresponds to a decrease of 28 and 31 percent respectively.
However, between 2019 and 2024, meetings with business representatives also accounted for the majority of contacts with lobbyists (see chart). The percentage share of NGO contacts in all lobbyist meetings rose from 15.9 to 22.2 percent. Meetings with lobbyists from companies and business associations accounted for 67.5% of all meetings in the Juncker Commission. In the previous mandate, the proportion fell to 62 percent.
A spokesperson for the Commission warns against reading too much into the data: “You have to see how many invitations were sent out, how many responses were given and you have to take into account the preparatory work.” However, the authority does not have any concrete data on this. “Policy making is something that changes over time,” the spokesperson continued.
Personal meetings with the Commission are very important for lobbyists in Brussels. They generally give more priority to discussions than written statements.
Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the Commission and responsible for the Green Deal, was particularly open to NGO representatives. The Dutchman, under whose direction the proposals on the CO2 fleet limits with the end of combustion engines, the Nature Restoration Act and the Pesticides Regulation were presented, proved to be particularly accessible to NGOs. He and his cabinet had by far the most meetings with interest groups, although Timmermans had already retired in the summer of 2023 to return to national politics in the Netherlands.
T+E had the best connection between the stakeholders and the Timmermans cabinet. The umbrella organization of many national environmental NGOs such as Deutsche Umwelthilfe is committed to phasing out combustion technology in cars, vans, and heavy commercial vehicles. T+E is also an advocate of the switch to battery electric vehicles. The NGO is strongly opposed to the use of alternative fuels such as e-fuels or biofuels in road traffic.
Representatives of the automotive industry complained that the T+E demands had repeatedly been incorporated into regulation, for example in the CO2 fleet legislation, the Euro 7 emission limits, the expansion of the public charging and refueling infrastructure (AFIR), and the Renewable Energy Directive.
Many environmental NGOs also met with Timmermans, for example the European Climate Foundation and the WWF. The only companies that were granted frequent access were Shell and Bloomberg, while the Dutch Employers’ Confederation, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), and Solar Power Europe were the only associations that were given access.
The contact person for the automotive industry in the Commission was Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was, however, hierarchically subordinate to Timmermans as a simple Commissioner. Von der Leyen avoided contact with the heads of BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen. Only when she was re-elected and her new Commission was not yet in office did she meet the car CEOs for personal talks during a parliamentary session week in Strasbourg in the fall of 2024.
In the business community and among some Commission officials, the privileged access of NGOs to the Timmermans cabinet is criticized in retrospect as having had far-reaching consequences. Within the Commission, voices are heard that see a connection with the increased bureaucratic burden. The introduction of many reporting obligations was only possible because the Commission had too little contact with the business community. Too little attention was paid to the consequences of EU legislation on everyday business life.
Representatives of companies, especially from the German economy, repeatedly complained that they had virtually no access to members of the College after Günther Oettinger left the Commission in 2019. Von der Leyen has changed the focus in the new mandate and is now focusing primarily on the competitiveness of the EU. This change in strategy is also expected to be reflected in the access that stakeholders will have over the next five years.
It is striking that the proximity of NGOs can only be observed at College level between 2019 and 2024. At Director-General level, the proportion of NGO meetings has remained constant at around 15 percent of all meetings over the past ten years. This suggests that the decision on access for stakeholders is largely made personally by the Commissioners and their heads of cabinet. In her second mandate, von der Leyen has taken care to ensure that no Commissioner is given such a central position of power as Timmermans. With Markus Grabitz and Stefanie Weber
The Commission is planning to reform the management of radio frequencies in Europe. This project should also contribute to the goal of strengthening the EU’s digital sovereignty and promoting the digital single market. The Commission has set this out in its White Paper “How to meet the demand for digital infrastructure in Europe”, which is intended to serve as preparation for an upcoming Digital Networks Act.
But even if no one explicitly opposes harmonization, there are still disagreements about the details. For example, the question of how a school theater performance can take place without disruption when a convoy of German soldiers is passing by. This discussion within Germany will also be held in one way or another in other member states.
For example, Heike Raab, State Secretary in Rhineland-Palatinate and coordinator of the Broadcasting Commission of the federal states, emphasizes “the importance of national responsibilities in the area of frequency management”. And she is pleased that both the Federal Government in its statement and the Council of Ministers in its Council conclusions on the White Paper take the same view.
The plan for the Digital Networks Act goes back to the initiative of former Commissioner Thierry Breton. However, Vice-President Henna Virkkunen has already announced that she wants to push ahead with this plan.
By harmonizing the frequency spectrum, the Commission wants to ensure more efficient use of scarce frequencies and enable EU-wide digital services. The harmonization of frequencies is currently a lengthy process. It requires the involvement of non-EU countries through the CEPT (European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations).
The Commission sees this process as a risk to the EU’s digital sovereignty. It therefore wants to ensure that decisions on frequencies in Europe are primarily made by EU stakeholders. To achieve this, it is proposing various options. These include the establishment of an ad hoc committee of EU member states or the discontinuation of CEPT participation.
In its conclusion, the Council emphasizes the central role of the Member States in spectrum management and considers spectrum management to be an important national competence. It argues that national control is necessary in order to be able to react flexibly to specific needs and challenges – such as cross-border interference – without increasing the administrative burden or decision-making time.
This is also the view of the German Digital Ministry. “When it comes to frequencies, it is important to us that we achieve better coordination,” Digital Minister Volker Wissing told Table.Briefings on the sidelines of the Council of Ministers. On the one hand, however, frequency allocation and frequency policy must remain in the established forums, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference. “On the other hand, we need a strong role for the national level in the allocation of frequencies,” added Wissing.
The strong role at German level is played by the federal states. Against the backdrop of technological developments and the geopolitical situation, it is right for the EU to concern itself with Europe’s digital infrastructure and its further development, says Raab. “Especially when it comes to the topic of broadcasting frequencies“, it is important to her “that national leeway and responsibilities are preserved”.
There is already a dispute within Germany because frequencies are scarce and coveted. Not only for mobile communications (5G) or new applications such as autonomous driving, but also for broadcasting and cultural frequencies (UHF TV frequencies in the 470 to 694 MHz range).
At the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC23), it was decided that broadcasting would remain the sole primary user in the frequency range and the event industry the secondary user. The latter needs the frequencies for wireless microphones, in-ear monitors, video cameras and internal communication, among other things. However, the Bundeswehr is now contesting the frequency range with existing users and is claiming additional frequency ranges in the UHF spectrum.
The Bundeswehr is currently equipping several thousand army vehicles with digital radios in order to be able to communicate with each other and with other NATO partners in an encrypted and tap-proof manner. In response to an inquiry, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence stated that “increasing digitalization” is leading to rising demand in a wide variety of frequency ranges.
“In view of the changed security situation, this means that the use of the available frequency spectrum must also be adapted in a balanced way between economic, cultural and security policy requirements.” With regard to the implementation of the military co-use of the UHF band, “constructive coordination is currently underway with the band users, the federal states and the departments concerned”.
The frequency range is in demand for the same reasons that theaters and concert organizers value it. “This range is ideal due to its technical properties – for example, its ability to penetrate walls or backdrops – and European harmonization,” says Jochen Zenthöfer, Co-Chairman of the Association of Wireless Production Technology (APWPT) and spokesperson for the SOS – Save Our Spectrum initiative. “Artists can tour throughout Europe with the same equipment.”
The Bundeswehr only announced its requirements after WRC23, emphasizes Zenthöfer. Germany still supported the position of broadcasting and culture there. Now there is a dispute between the Ministry of Defense and the federal states. The Ministry of Defense initially tried to push through the shared use of the frequencies in the cabinet procedure, but Heike Raab put a stop to this.
For technical reasons, the German Armed Forces and the broadcasting and cultural sectors could not use the frequencies to any great extent at the same time. “The mutual interference would be too great,” says Raab on request. Discussions on the future military (co-)use of the TV UHF band are being held between the federal government, the federal states, and those affected, coordinated under the leadership of the BMDV. The aim is to develop a concept for the future use of the TV UHF band.
“In my opinion, it is important to maintain terrestrial broadcasting as a cost-effective and low-threshold transmission channel and also to keep open the possibility of introducing 5G Broadcast as a transmission technology optimized for mobile devices,” says Raab. Terrestrial frequencies, which operate via terrestrial antennas instead of satellites, play a very special role in media participation. Wireless production technology is not only indispensable for professional broadcast media productions but also “for the existence of the cultural and creative industries“, emphasizes Raab. “Media and culture must reach everyone.”
The frequency range between 470 and 694 MHz is already standardized throughout Europe for wireless microphones and terrestrial television broadcasting. It is effectively a single European market for cultural frequencies, says Zenthöfer. He points to Italy, where terrestrial television broadcasting reaches 80 percent of households. A change to this frequency range, for example by the German Armed Forces or NATO, “would present Italy with major challenges”, he says.
According to Zenthöfer, the Bundeswehr is currently applying for trial radio licenses for 18 barracks locations in order to be allowed to use the frequencies within these sites. However, it is not just the locations that are problematic. “Another problem is the Bundeswehr’s marching routes, which could cause interference with televisions and microphones,” says Zenthöfer. So when tanks are rolling outside, the microphones at the pop concert or school theater performance fail.
As a solution, he proposes that the Federal Network Agency, as a neutral body, create a platform to coordinate the use of frequencies. He is critical of the idea of a European frequency authority. “I fear that the interests of the cultural and event industry would take a back seat to those of mobile communications,” says Zenthöfer.
Herbert Kickl wants to “govern Austria honestly”. The FPÖ party leader promised this at a press conference before entering into coalition negotiations with the conservative ÖVP with a team of seven. For the first time since 1945, Austria could have an ultra-right-wing Chancellor – a hobby extreme sportsman who is just as disciplined in pursuing a partly right-wing radical policy and provokes with his speeches.
For example, Kickl calls the EU the “biggest warmonger this continent has ever seen”, promises his voters a “Fortress Austria” and wants to deport “refugees who believe they don’t have to abide by our rules” in the style of “remigration” (“I don’t know what’s so bad about this word.”). He presents himself as someone who is taking on the “elites”: the EU, NATO, and the World Health Organization. He is the “people’s chancellor“. Kickl borrowed the term from another Austrian: Adolf Hitler. In 1941, the Duden dictionary wrote: “Term for Hitler to express the bond between the people and the Führer.”
In a New Year’s speech, Kickl also provoked with loaded terms, threatening, for example, a “wanted list” containing “system politicians” such as former chancellor Karl Nehammer or interim chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, who had committed “treason”. With his provocations, Kickl also appeals to COVID deniers and conspiracy supporters, analyzes extremism researcher Julia Ebner in the Guardian. Today, the FPÖ is more radical right-wing than ever before, and successfully so.
Kickl’s political rise began as a speechwriter for Jörg Haider and later as a strategist for Heinz-Christian Strache. When the latter went under in the wake of the Ibiza affair, Kickl took over an ailing party and led it to victory in the European and National Council elections three years later. The FPÖ is currently polling at over 35% and is in government in five out of nine federal states. However, unlike the charismatic populists Haider and Strache, Kickl is not at all popular with his own voters: Only two percent voted for the party because of him.
Herbert Kickl likes to keep his private life under wraps. The now 56-year-old grew up in a workers’ housing estate in Radenthein, Carinthia. His family was rather apolitical and he himself was a “good student with a spirit of resistance“. After graduating from high school and completing his military service, he studied philosophy in Vienna but dropped out. Kickl is married and has a 24-year-old son.
He repeatedly criticizes the high salaries of politicians, but in addition to his National Council salary, he receives EUR 10,000 a month from the Vienna FPÖ for media work. His climbing equipment is usually in his car for spontaneous trips, he runs marathons and has completed an extreme triathlon.
His political approach should be just as disciplined. Kickl is considered a lone fighter and is alienated from the “elitist” fraternities. At the same time, some of his closest confidants, who are being considered as ministerial candidates, are members of fraternities – including Reinhard Teufel. He was Kickl’s head of cabinet in the interior ministry and is part of the radical Innsbruck Brixia. Teufel used to be in contact with the Austrian right-wing extremist and co-founder of the Identitarians, Martin Sellner.
In “Taking Kickl at his word“, journalist Nina Horaczek documents his positions in a collection of quotes: the lack of differentiation from the Identitarians, attacks on the media and human rights as well as on the EU and the Federal President, the idea of sealing off Austria, or his stance on Russia and Ukraine, for example.
If you take the provocateur Kickl at his word – the word “honesty” was used 20 times in his speech on his possible chancellorship – you get an idea of his European and foreign policy. For example, Kickl no longer clearly threatens to leave the EU, but it was an option in the past.
He also signed a “Patriotic Manifesto” together with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Czech Republic’s former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, which is intended to protect nation-states from an alleged European “central state”. Kickl thinks little of the Green Deal, ESG reporting obligations, or the EU renaturation law.
Instead, the FPÖ is calling for an end to the “irresponsible” EU sanctions against Russia and continues to rely on Russian gas in its election manifesto. Zelenskiy must also move, Kickl believes. At the beginning of 2023, Kickl also let it be known on Telegram that “as a neutral state, Austria should never have agreed to this warmongering”. For him, the participation in the European air defense system Skyshield initiated by the ÖVP is an “anti-neutrality NATO rapprochement“. The FPÖ also wants to re-evaluate all agreements and international treaties.
Kickl’s ideas on European and foreign policy could be the most likely reason for the current coalition negotiations to fail, after the FPÖ and ÖVP were able to agree on a budget overhaul on Monday in order to avert an EU deficit procedure. However, Kickl holds the trump card – and he also let the potential junior partner know this. If the ÖVP does not play along, there will be new elections. Lukas Bayer
The EU Commission had originally planned to present the Competitiveness Compass today. But the text is not quite ready yet, and the Commission President, who wanted to present it, is still recovering from her severe pneumonia. According to a draft “list des points prévus” – the Commission’s expected agenda for the coming weeks – the Compass is now due to be announced on Jan. 29.
The aim is to set out the direction of EU economic policy for the coming years. The Compass is intended to synthesize the three major reports of the past year by Enrico Letta, Mario Draghi and Sauli Niinistö and turn their recommendations into EU objectives. However, senior Commission representatives warn against expecting too much from the Compass. It will not contain much that is not already in the Commission President’s political guidelines and the Commissioners’ mission letters.
Things are only likely to get a little more concrete on Feb. 26. This is when the Commission plans to present the Clean Industrial Deal, as well as the omnibus package to reduce reporting obligations and an action plan for affordable energy.
We wish you a pleasant start to the day!
During Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s first term in office, representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were given significantly more access to Commissioners and their cabinet members than before. This gave them the opportunity to influence the legislative proposals of the Fit for 55 strategy in particular.
Commissioners and their cabinet members have met with NGO representatives 2747 times in the past five years. That is 200 meetings or eight percent more than in the Juncker Commission. This is the result of an analysis carried out by Table.Briefings on the basis of data published by the Commission in the Transparency Register.
In December, an Analysis by Table.Briefings showed that the total number of lobby contacts by the Commission under Ursula von der Leyen had fallen by 19 percent. The new data shows that the slump in contacts with business representatives is the cause of this development. The first Commission under von der Leyen met significantly fewer individual companies and business associations at Commissioner and Cabinet level than the Juncker Commission: 1,600 fewer meetings with individual companies and 1,500 fewer meetings with business associations. This corresponds to a decrease of 28 and 31 percent respectively.
However, between 2019 and 2024, meetings with business representatives also accounted for the majority of contacts with lobbyists (see chart). The percentage share of NGO contacts in all lobbyist meetings rose from 15.9 to 22.2 percent. Meetings with lobbyists from companies and business associations accounted for 67.5% of all meetings in the Juncker Commission. In the previous mandate, the proportion fell to 62 percent.
A spokesperson for the Commission warns against reading too much into the data: “You have to see how many invitations were sent out, how many responses were given and you have to take into account the preparatory work.” However, the authority does not have any concrete data on this. “Policy making is something that changes over time,” the spokesperson continued.
Personal meetings with the Commission are very important for lobbyists in Brussels. They generally give more priority to discussions than written statements.
Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the Commission and responsible for the Green Deal, was particularly open to NGO representatives. The Dutchman, under whose direction the proposals on the CO2 fleet limits with the end of combustion engines, the Nature Restoration Act and the Pesticides Regulation were presented, proved to be particularly accessible to NGOs. He and his cabinet had by far the most meetings with interest groups, although Timmermans had already retired in the summer of 2023 to return to national politics in the Netherlands.
T+E had the best connection between the stakeholders and the Timmermans cabinet. The umbrella organization of many national environmental NGOs such as Deutsche Umwelthilfe is committed to phasing out combustion technology in cars, vans, and heavy commercial vehicles. T+E is also an advocate of the switch to battery electric vehicles. The NGO is strongly opposed to the use of alternative fuels such as e-fuels or biofuels in road traffic.
Representatives of the automotive industry complained that the T+E demands had repeatedly been incorporated into regulation, for example in the CO2 fleet legislation, the Euro 7 emission limits, the expansion of the public charging and refueling infrastructure (AFIR), and the Renewable Energy Directive.
Many environmental NGOs also met with Timmermans, for example the European Climate Foundation and the WWF. The only companies that were granted frequent access were Shell and Bloomberg, while the Dutch Employers’ Confederation, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), and Solar Power Europe were the only associations that were given access.
The contact person for the automotive industry in the Commission was Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was, however, hierarchically subordinate to Timmermans as a simple Commissioner. Von der Leyen avoided contact with the heads of BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen. Only when she was re-elected and her new Commission was not yet in office did she meet the car CEOs for personal talks during a parliamentary session week in Strasbourg in the fall of 2024.
In the business community and among some Commission officials, the privileged access of NGOs to the Timmermans cabinet is criticized in retrospect as having had far-reaching consequences. Within the Commission, voices are heard that see a connection with the increased bureaucratic burden. The introduction of many reporting obligations was only possible because the Commission had too little contact with the business community. Too little attention was paid to the consequences of EU legislation on everyday business life.
Representatives of companies, especially from the German economy, repeatedly complained that they had virtually no access to members of the College after Günther Oettinger left the Commission in 2019. Von der Leyen has changed the focus in the new mandate and is now focusing primarily on the competitiveness of the EU. This change in strategy is also expected to be reflected in the access that stakeholders will have over the next five years.
It is striking that the proximity of NGOs can only be observed at College level between 2019 and 2024. At Director-General level, the proportion of NGO meetings has remained constant at around 15 percent of all meetings over the past ten years. This suggests that the decision on access for stakeholders is largely made personally by the Commissioners and their heads of cabinet. In her second mandate, von der Leyen has taken care to ensure that no Commissioner is given such a central position of power as Timmermans. With Markus Grabitz and Stefanie Weber
The Commission is planning to reform the management of radio frequencies in Europe. This project should also contribute to the goal of strengthening the EU’s digital sovereignty and promoting the digital single market. The Commission has set this out in its White Paper “How to meet the demand for digital infrastructure in Europe”, which is intended to serve as preparation for an upcoming Digital Networks Act.
But even if no one explicitly opposes harmonization, there are still disagreements about the details. For example, the question of how a school theater performance can take place without disruption when a convoy of German soldiers is passing by. This discussion within Germany will also be held in one way or another in other member states.
For example, Heike Raab, State Secretary in Rhineland-Palatinate and coordinator of the Broadcasting Commission of the federal states, emphasizes “the importance of national responsibilities in the area of frequency management”. And she is pleased that both the Federal Government in its statement and the Council of Ministers in its Council conclusions on the White Paper take the same view.
The plan for the Digital Networks Act goes back to the initiative of former Commissioner Thierry Breton. However, Vice-President Henna Virkkunen has already announced that she wants to push ahead with this plan.
By harmonizing the frequency spectrum, the Commission wants to ensure more efficient use of scarce frequencies and enable EU-wide digital services. The harmonization of frequencies is currently a lengthy process. It requires the involvement of non-EU countries through the CEPT (European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations).
The Commission sees this process as a risk to the EU’s digital sovereignty. It therefore wants to ensure that decisions on frequencies in Europe are primarily made by EU stakeholders. To achieve this, it is proposing various options. These include the establishment of an ad hoc committee of EU member states or the discontinuation of CEPT participation.
In its conclusion, the Council emphasizes the central role of the Member States in spectrum management and considers spectrum management to be an important national competence. It argues that national control is necessary in order to be able to react flexibly to specific needs and challenges – such as cross-border interference – without increasing the administrative burden or decision-making time.
This is also the view of the German Digital Ministry. “When it comes to frequencies, it is important to us that we achieve better coordination,” Digital Minister Volker Wissing told Table.Briefings on the sidelines of the Council of Ministers. On the one hand, however, frequency allocation and frequency policy must remain in the established forums, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference. “On the other hand, we need a strong role for the national level in the allocation of frequencies,” added Wissing.
The strong role at German level is played by the federal states. Against the backdrop of technological developments and the geopolitical situation, it is right for the EU to concern itself with Europe’s digital infrastructure and its further development, says Raab. “Especially when it comes to the topic of broadcasting frequencies“, it is important to her “that national leeway and responsibilities are preserved”.
There is already a dispute within Germany because frequencies are scarce and coveted. Not only for mobile communications (5G) or new applications such as autonomous driving, but also for broadcasting and cultural frequencies (UHF TV frequencies in the 470 to 694 MHz range).
At the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC23), it was decided that broadcasting would remain the sole primary user in the frequency range and the event industry the secondary user. The latter needs the frequencies for wireless microphones, in-ear monitors, video cameras and internal communication, among other things. However, the Bundeswehr is now contesting the frequency range with existing users and is claiming additional frequency ranges in the UHF spectrum.
The Bundeswehr is currently equipping several thousand army vehicles with digital radios in order to be able to communicate with each other and with other NATO partners in an encrypted and tap-proof manner. In response to an inquiry, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence stated that “increasing digitalization” is leading to rising demand in a wide variety of frequency ranges.
“In view of the changed security situation, this means that the use of the available frequency spectrum must also be adapted in a balanced way between economic, cultural and security policy requirements.” With regard to the implementation of the military co-use of the UHF band, “constructive coordination is currently underway with the band users, the federal states and the departments concerned”.
The frequency range is in demand for the same reasons that theaters and concert organizers value it. “This range is ideal due to its technical properties – for example, its ability to penetrate walls or backdrops – and European harmonization,” says Jochen Zenthöfer, Co-Chairman of the Association of Wireless Production Technology (APWPT) and spokesperson for the SOS – Save Our Spectrum initiative. “Artists can tour throughout Europe with the same equipment.”
The Bundeswehr only announced its requirements after WRC23, emphasizes Zenthöfer. Germany still supported the position of broadcasting and culture there. Now there is a dispute between the Ministry of Defense and the federal states. The Ministry of Defense initially tried to push through the shared use of the frequencies in the cabinet procedure, but Heike Raab put a stop to this.
For technical reasons, the German Armed Forces and the broadcasting and cultural sectors could not use the frequencies to any great extent at the same time. “The mutual interference would be too great,” says Raab on request. Discussions on the future military (co-)use of the TV UHF band are being held between the federal government, the federal states, and those affected, coordinated under the leadership of the BMDV. The aim is to develop a concept for the future use of the TV UHF band.
“In my opinion, it is important to maintain terrestrial broadcasting as a cost-effective and low-threshold transmission channel and also to keep open the possibility of introducing 5G Broadcast as a transmission technology optimized for mobile devices,” says Raab. Terrestrial frequencies, which operate via terrestrial antennas instead of satellites, play a very special role in media participation. Wireless production technology is not only indispensable for professional broadcast media productions but also “for the existence of the cultural and creative industries“, emphasizes Raab. “Media and culture must reach everyone.”
The frequency range between 470 and 694 MHz is already standardized throughout Europe for wireless microphones and terrestrial television broadcasting. It is effectively a single European market for cultural frequencies, says Zenthöfer. He points to Italy, where terrestrial television broadcasting reaches 80 percent of households. A change to this frequency range, for example by the German Armed Forces or NATO, “would present Italy with major challenges”, he says.
According to Zenthöfer, the Bundeswehr is currently applying for trial radio licenses for 18 barracks locations in order to be allowed to use the frequencies within these sites. However, it is not just the locations that are problematic. “Another problem is the Bundeswehr’s marching routes, which could cause interference with televisions and microphones,” says Zenthöfer. So when tanks are rolling outside, the microphones at the pop concert or school theater performance fail.
As a solution, he proposes that the Federal Network Agency, as a neutral body, create a platform to coordinate the use of frequencies. He is critical of the idea of a European frequency authority. “I fear that the interests of the cultural and event industry would take a back seat to those of mobile communications,” says Zenthöfer.
Herbert Kickl wants to “govern Austria honestly”. The FPÖ party leader promised this at a press conference before entering into coalition negotiations with the conservative ÖVP with a team of seven. For the first time since 1945, Austria could have an ultra-right-wing Chancellor – a hobby extreme sportsman who is just as disciplined in pursuing a partly right-wing radical policy and provokes with his speeches.
For example, Kickl calls the EU the “biggest warmonger this continent has ever seen”, promises his voters a “Fortress Austria” and wants to deport “refugees who believe they don’t have to abide by our rules” in the style of “remigration” (“I don’t know what’s so bad about this word.”). He presents himself as someone who is taking on the “elites”: the EU, NATO, and the World Health Organization. He is the “people’s chancellor“. Kickl borrowed the term from another Austrian: Adolf Hitler. In 1941, the Duden dictionary wrote: “Term for Hitler to express the bond between the people and the Führer.”
In a New Year’s speech, Kickl also provoked with loaded terms, threatening, for example, a “wanted list” containing “system politicians” such as former chancellor Karl Nehammer or interim chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, who had committed “treason”. With his provocations, Kickl also appeals to COVID deniers and conspiracy supporters, analyzes extremism researcher Julia Ebner in the Guardian. Today, the FPÖ is more radical right-wing than ever before, and successfully so.
Kickl’s political rise began as a speechwriter for Jörg Haider and later as a strategist for Heinz-Christian Strache. When the latter went under in the wake of the Ibiza affair, Kickl took over an ailing party and led it to victory in the European and National Council elections three years later. The FPÖ is currently polling at over 35% and is in government in five out of nine federal states. However, unlike the charismatic populists Haider and Strache, Kickl is not at all popular with his own voters: Only two percent voted for the party because of him.
Herbert Kickl likes to keep his private life under wraps. The now 56-year-old grew up in a workers’ housing estate in Radenthein, Carinthia. His family was rather apolitical and he himself was a “good student with a spirit of resistance“. After graduating from high school and completing his military service, he studied philosophy in Vienna but dropped out. Kickl is married and has a 24-year-old son.
He repeatedly criticizes the high salaries of politicians, but in addition to his National Council salary, he receives EUR 10,000 a month from the Vienna FPÖ for media work. His climbing equipment is usually in his car for spontaneous trips, he runs marathons and has completed an extreme triathlon.
His political approach should be just as disciplined. Kickl is considered a lone fighter and is alienated from the “elitist” fraternities. At the same time, some of his closest confidants, who are being considered as ministerial candidates, are members of fraternities – including Reinhard Teufel. He was Kickl’s head of cabinet in the interior ministry and is part of the radical Innsbruck Brixia. Teufel used to be in contact with the Austrian right-wing extremist and co-founder of the Identitarians, Martin Sellner.
In “Taking Kickl at his word“, journalist Nina Horaczek documents his positions in a collection of quotes: the lack of differentiation from the Identitarians, attacks on the media and human rights as well as on the EU and the Federal President, the idea of sealing off Austria, or his stance on Russia and Ukraine, for example.
If you take the provocateur Kickl at his word – the word “honesty” was used 20 times in his speech on his possible chancellorship – you get an idea of his European and foreign policy. For example, Kickl no longer clearly threatens to leave the EU, but it was an option in the past.
He also signed a “Patriotic Manifesto” together with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Czech Republic’s former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, which is intended to protect nation-states from an alleged European “central state”. Kickl thinks little of the Green Deal, ESG reporting obligations, or the EU renaturation law.
Instead, the FPÖ is calling for an end to the “irresponsible” EU sanctions against Russia and continues to rely on Russian gas in its election manifesto. Zelenskiy must also move, Kickl believes. At the beginning of 2023, Kickl also let it be known on Telegram that “as a neutral state, Austria should never have agreed to this warmongering”. For him, the participation in the European air defense system Skyshield initiated by the ÖVP is an “anti-neutrality NATO rapprochement“. The FPÖ also wants to re-evaluate all agreements and international treaties.
Kickl’s ideas on European and foreign policy could be the most likely reason for the current coalition negotiations to fail, after the FPÖ and ÖVP were able to agree on a budget overhaul on Monday in order to avert an EU deficit procedure. However, Kickl holds the trump card – and he also let the potential junior partner know this. If the ÖVP does not play along, there will be new elections. Lukas Bayer
