Health crisis of democracy? Debating Covid-19 measures and protest in plenary debates in the Austrian National Council

Measures against the spread of the Covid-19 virus included so-called ‘lockdowns’ – a virtual shutdown of public life accompanied by rules restricting personal contacts. During the pandemic, Austria experienced four lockdowns, which is the highest number in Europe. While the first one (March to May 2020) was based on a common decision of all parliamentary parties and endorsed by most of the population, the others (November 2020, December 2020, November/December 2021) were confronted with growing popular protests on the streets. The heterogenous protest movement was infiltrated by right-wing extremists, and the leader of the oppositional Freedom Party (FPÖ) and former Interior Minister, Herbert Kickl, was a frequent speaker at their protests. As a parliamentary representative, he rejected all measures such as mask wearing in the plenum and presented himself as the leader of the protest movement. This paper examines the plenary debates in the Austrian National Council dealing with Covid-19 measures and the protest movement. Both, proponents and opponents of the Covid-19 measures accuse each other to endanger democracy. The analysis of the notion of ‘crisis’ aims to showcase the discursive strategies that transform the health crisis into a crisis of democracy.