Austria holds 2.03 % of the EU population. Its government is on record against mandatory scanning of private messages, since 9 Oct 2025.
Against Last checked 22 October 2026
What the government has said
“Austria will not agree to EU chat control; we have made sure of that with a government decision.”NEOS press release, 9 October 2025, translated from German
Receipt: Government decision reported by NEOS, a governing party, 9 Oct 2025
The Nationalrat’s EU subcommittee adopted a four-party opinion on the file in November 2022. Voted for the voluntary-only mandate in November 2025 and still calls detection orders critical in Council (June 2026).
How it voted in the Council
- Negotiating mandate, 26 November 2025
- yes The Council position adopted in Coreper: voluntary scanning only, no detection orders. Coreper does not publish votes; the split was reported the same day by the Czech news agency CTK.
- Chat Control 1.0, 23 July 2026
- yes The vote that brought back the temporary rules: voluntary scanning of private messages allowed until 3 April 2028.
A government can oppose mandatory scanning and still vote for the voluntary regime. The two are listed separately for that reason. Council votes need 15 states with 65 % of the population; four states with more than 35 % block.
How its MEPs voted
On 9 July 2026 the European Parliament voted on a motion to reject the Council text that brought back voluntary scanning, Chat Control 1.0. Rejection needed 361 votes and got 314, so the text passed. Of the 20 MEPs elected in Austria, 10 voted to reject it, 8 voted against rejection, 0 abstained and 2 did not vote.
- 10 for rejection, that is against voluntary scanning
- 8 against rejection, letting the text pass
- 0 abstained
- 2 did not vote
The government line above concerns mandatory scanning; this vote concerned the voluntary regime. They are different questions, which is why both are shown. Source: roll-call vote 195775 as published by the European Parliament and compiled by HowTheyVote.eu; all 27 delegations side by side on the governments page.
Who decides in Austria
- Minister
- Gerhard Karner, Federal Minister of the Interior; attended the Nationalrat EU subcommittee that adopted the four-party opinion on 3 Nov 2022. Justice Minister Anna Sporrer
- Ministry in charge
- Federal Ministry of the Interior; Federal Ministry of Justice
- Permanent representation
- Ambassador Gregor Schusterschitz, Permanent Representative (Coreper II); Franz Wirtenberger, Deputy Permanent Representative (Coreper I, since Aug 2023)
- National parliament
- Nationalrat, EU subcommittee: four-party opinion (ÖVP, SPÖ, Greens, NEOS) of 3 Nov 2022 asking the government to press for fundamental-rights-compliant measures; the FPÖ tabled its own motion against chat control
Timeline
- Council vote on Chat Control 1.0, the temporary rules. Austria: yes.
- European Parliament votes on rejecting Chat Control 1.0; the motion fails, the text passes. MEPs elected in Austria: 10 for rejection, 8 against, 0 abstained, 2 did not vote. source
- Council negotiating mandate adopted in Coreper. Austria: yes.
- Recorded as against. Receipt: Government decision reported by NEOS, a governing party, 9 Oct 2025 source
Sources
- Government decision reported by NEOS, a governing party, 9 Oct 2025 (receipt)
- Nationalrat EU subcommittee, all four parties, 3 Nov 2022
- Council minutes, 12 Sep 2025 and 10 Jun 2026, via netzpolitik.org
- Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU, the Permanent Representative
- Method: what the labels mean and where the population shares come from
This page is one of 27 records behind Where the 27 governments stand. Together the governments against hold 32.9 % of the EU population; a blocking minority needs more than 35 %.
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Data for all 27: JSON · CSV. Found a mistake? Tell us; we correct openly and say what changed.
Cite as: Brussels Record, “Austria: position on Chat Control”, last checked 22 October 2026, https://brusselsrecord.com/member-states/austria/
