::Endless political harassment

While the City of Vienna has acknowledged the innovative work of Public Netbase and came to its support, the responsible politician in the Federal Government, State Secretary Frank Morak (ÖVP), is still engaging in a deliberate delaying of crucial decisions concerning public subsidies. This began on 24 May, 2000, when Public Netbase was informed that the Federal Chancellery had put a private auditing office in charge of an examination concerning the proper use of public money by Public Netbase. Franz Morak claimed to be acting upon a recommendation by the Advisory Committee for Media Art. This committee reacted promptly and publicly with a direct denial of having suggested any action of the sort to the Secretary of Art. The Advisory Committee stated that it is not responsible for making such recommendations, and criticised sharply the arbitrary action against Public Netbase t0.

It is a matter of fact that the hiring of a private financial controlling agency is a waste of public monies, considering that the use of earmarked subsidies is annually investigated by the responsible government agencies. On top of the mere waste, the legality of such methods is highly questionable, and definitely not customary in the cultural field.

Until today, Secretary of Art Morak has not been able to allay the suspicion that the aim of such actions is to directly repress an active, critical, and futureoriented cultural organisation.

This suspicion is further nourished by the fact that the auditors finished their work as early as September 2000 and stated in their final report that no irregularities had been detected.

Although Franz Morak had announced a decision regarding Public Netbase's request of a public subsidy, submitted as early as October 1999, once the audit report was available, no decision has been taken to this day. Instead, Public Netbase received a package of new questions in early 2001.

This continued and arbitrary delaying of a decision on the subsidy request of the year 2000 has amounted to a serious threat to Public Netbase's existence. The resulting financial bottleneck is a threat not only to the entire organisation, the responsible managers and the cultural programme, but also to the plans of the Museumsquartier as a whole.