Austria plans tougher counter-terrorism moves after Taylor Swift plot

VIENNA - Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Aug 13 that he would introduce steps to bolster Austria's counter-terrorism capacity after authorities foiled a suspected ISIS-inspired plot against a concert due to be held by Taylor Swift in Vienna last week.

In a post on X, Mr Nehammer said he was presenting a package of measures to enable “decisive action against terrorist activities”, linking to a media report setting out his plans to beef up domestic intelligence services.

The report referenced by Mr Nehammer in Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung set out four points, including giving security services the ability to monitor communications sent on messaging apps - currently not permitted in the country.

Mr Nehammer, a conservative seeking re-election in September, said after the alleged plot was uncovered that Austria needed to give intelligence agencies more powers to decrypt messages.

Opinion polls show the main threat to Mr Nehammer's Austrian People's Party (OVP) is the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which is leading the race to win the Sept 29 parliamentary election.

The FPO rails against what it casts as the “Islamisation” of Austria and has pledged to ban political Islam.

Mr Nehammer said he would set out his plans at a meeting of the national security council later on Aug 13.

The Kronen Zeitung said his package included proposals for combating political Islam by tightening rules around the right to assembly for groups deemed hostile to democracy.

They also encompassed measures aimed at deradicalising extremists and provisions to facilitate mandatory pre-trial detention of youth suspects for serious crimes.

Mr Nehammer's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Austria has tight privacy laws on personal data, and efforts by the OVP to make monitoring of communications easier have been bogged down in disputes with its Green coalition partners. REUTERS