A seemingly banal story that happened to the bodyguards of Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer now leaves him in need of explanation.

The starting point was an accident with minor damage by two men from the security team in front of the Christian Democratic ÖVP politician's house in March.

The extension came through an anonymous ad.

Stephen Lowenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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She was obviously asked by an insider of the responsible police force "Cobra" and immediately picked up eagerly by the opposition.

The story gained prominence when Nehammer called a press conference at short notice.

In an emotional appearance, the Chancellor rejected all allegations.

He demanded that his family be left out of the game and accused the SPÖ of having disclosed security-related details by publishing the ad (by parliamentary request).

1.2 per thousand at the wheel

Why is?

The two guards who caused the accident were apparently drunk.

They used the official car;

the person driving the car allegedly had a blood alcohol content of 1.2.

According to the ad, they are said to have come out of the Nehammer family's house "very drunk".

The Chancellor was on duty there, in the Federal Chancellery on Ballhausplatz in Vienna.

But since his time as interior minister, his wife and two children have also been under personal protection because of death threats.

The chancellor's wife, who was well connected in the interior ministry as a former head of the minister's office (at Nehammer's predecessor), was now accused of having intervened to cover up the matter.

Nehammer rejected everything as a "blatant lie".

The accusation was "vile", thus a "red line in the political debate was massively crossed".

The anonymous complaint also said that the "Cobra" officers were abused as babysitters and servants, for example by driving the children to go horseback riding or handing in clothes for the family to be dry cleaned or PCR tests.

This is also rejected by the police: Accompanying the protection persons is part of the security.

And giving something away on business trips anyway does not constitute a violation of a regulation.

It is now clear that at least the matter of the accident has more to do with Nehammer than initially shown.

The "Cobra" police officers were not drinking in a nearby inn, as it was first said, but had been asked to have a drink in the house.

The occasion should have been a milestone birthday.

The right-wing FPÖ maliciously calls on Nehammer to “pour the public pure wine”.

The SPÖ says: "A chancellor who has a problem with the truth is a problem for the country."

The story is characteristic of the dense interweaving of a not so big country.

Ms. Nehammer is well known to media people: the daughter of a former ORF moderator was also a press officer.

It has also become known that she is apparently close friends with the wife of one of the police officers who wrecked the company car;

the families go on vacation together.

In this light, the ad looks like the offended reaction of a police colleague who felt neglected.

It went from a posse to an affair because false versions were circulated and the real circumstances only came out in bits and pieces.