The accusations in Austria against the highest military general in the EU, Robert Bruegel, are not abating

This week, a publication in the Austrian magazine “Standart” provoked unrelenting media reactions related to the former Chief of General Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces and current Chairman of the EU Military Committee, General Robert Brueger.

As he wrote in “Kurir”, he is the highest-ranking military officer in the EU and therefore bears a special responsibility in politically delicate times. As chairman of the EU Military Committee, Robert Briger’s opinion carries the main weight in making all decisions in the area of ​​the Union’s defense policy. That’s why there is a lot of excitement in Brussels right now after a publication in the daily “Standard” about Briger’s online contacts with a former police officer.

For a long time, the ex-policeman circulated on his Facebook page comments with racist or neo-Nazi content or conspiracy theories, including open denial of the Holocaust. Brieger is said to have added a well-intentioned, approving comment to one of these messages, which referred to a well-known theory in neo-Nazi circles about German victims being passed off as Jews. This is “a hidden chapter in the history of the winners”. This week saw the first response to the incident at EU level. Green MP Thomas Weitz has sent an urgent question to the European Commission and EU Commissioner Josep Borrell.

In the issue, Weitz elaborates on the circumstances and political explosiveness of Brieger’s writing, saying that he “positively commented on and propagated” neo-Nazi conspiracy theories.

The Greens also refer to recently made public chats between the former head of the Freedom Party of Austria Heinz-Christian Strache and the then Defense Minister of the Freedom Party of Austria Mario Kunasek. In one of them Strache asks if Brieger is “one of us”. Kunasek had previously elevated Brieger to Chief of the General Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces. Weitz is now calling on the European Commission to investigate whether Brieger poses a serious security risk, especially in times of Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine.

The Green Party MP openly questions whether the general is still an acceptable figure as chairman of the EU Military Committee. A “probably right-wing extremist” position is not acceptable in this post in times of Russian disinformation campaigns, he points out.

In a statement on Austrian Radio and Television, ORF Brieger distanced himself from the accusations. The media site also published a material based on the press release that the Chairman of the EU Military Committee and former Chief of the General Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces Brieger made, distancing himself from the Holocaust-denying Facebook posts of ex-policeman Franz M. Briger states that he does not know M. personally and has deleted “only the virtual connection on Facebook”.

Briger further emphasizes that in the performance of his official duties, he focuses “exclusively on European interests” and the main democratic values ​​of the EU. The comment Brieger made under a post shared by M. could be “misconstrued.”

The European Commission intends to seek “further clarifications” on the case. The allegations are being taken very seriously, an EC spokeswoman said in a statement to APA. “All forms of denial, distortion or belittling of the Holocaust are unacceptable.”

As first reported by “Standart”, ORF recalls, Brieger commented on the Rheinwiesenlager camps in a publication entitled “Hidden Chapter of German History”: “Above all, this is a hidden chapter of the history of the victors.”

“My comment was based exclusively on the historical reassessment of the fate of the prisoners of the Rheinwiesenlager camps, which, as far as I know, only took place at a later stage,” says Brieger. He reports that he does not share the views of M.

“I did not know that revisionist and anti-Semitic statements and comments were being shared on the Facebook page in question, which I categorically reject and distance myself from clearly and unequivocally.”

Brieger states that he was never a member of the Austrian Freedom Party. When he was chosen as Chief of the Defense Staff under Minister Kunasek, he went through a “transparent application procedure” and believes that Kunasek chose him based on his suitability and “not for party-political reasons”.