Status: 10/12/2021 9:02 a.m.
The government crisis in Austria has been settled for the time being, the ÖVP and the Greens want to continue under the new Chancellor Schallenberg. That is not enough for the opposition. She wants to deal with the corruption allegations around ex-Chancellor Kurz in parliament.
With the retirement of Sebastian Kurz as Federal Chancellor and the new man at the head of the government, Alexander Schallenberg, there is still no calm in Austria. On the contrary: the change in leadership has consequences in parliament. In a special session of parliament, the opposition wants to denounce abuses in the ÖVP and introduce motions of no confidence in the government. The background to this are the allegations of corruption against Kurz. Among other things, he and close employees are suspected of having bought positive media reports – and that with taxpayers’ money.
Committee of inquiry called for
The social democratic SPÖ is planning a motion of no confidence against Finance Minister Gernot Blümel – because of his proximity to Kurz. In addition, the right-wing FPÖ and the liberal Neos want to initiate a more transparent regulation in parliament for the distribution of media advertisements by the government in order to put a stop to courtesy journalism. The opposition is also working to set up a committee of inquiry. The right-wing FPÖ announced a vote of no confidence in the entire cabinet because, in its view, the Greens continue to support the ÖVP’s corrupt power system. The Greens have been ruling with the ÖVP since January 2020.
The opposition lacks a majority
However, the opposition Neos, SPÖ and FPÖ do not have a majority for their applications. In general, the day will turn out differently today than you might have imagined at the end of last week. Because it still looked as if the opposition would be able to overthrow Chancellor Kurz today with a vote of no confidence. After raids in the Chancellery, in the ÖVP headquarters and in the finance ministry, the green coalition partner had ultimately called for a change at the top of the government and questioned Kurz’s ability to act. The first talks about a possible multi-party government without the ÖVP were already underway – but then Kurz threw in the towel on Saturday, and the Greens and ÖVP declared their coalition crisis over.
The opposition does not like this. Also because Schallenberg, hardly sworn in, commented directly on the investigation against his companion. He considered the allegations against Kurz to be wrong and was convinced that at the end of the day it would turn out that there was nothing wrong with them, he said on Monday. At the swearing in, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen had warned that trust had to be restored and that the judiciary had to be able to investigate independently and undisturbed without accusations from politicians.
FPÖ speaks of “Fall of Man”
In his first appearance as Chancellor, Schallenberg questioned the Ministry of Justice’s investigations, as the head of the right-wing FPÖ, Herbert Kickl, criticized the new Chancellor. “In my opinion, this is an unbelievable fall from grace.”
Observers assume that Schallenberg is more of a placeholder for Kurz, so that the “shadow chancellor” can prepare his comeback. After all, shortly after his retirement, he remains ÖVP boss and moves to parliament as a parliamentary group leader. On Monday evening, the 35-year-old was unanimously elected to this office by the parliamentary group. However, he is not due to be sworn in as a member of parliament until Thursday – which means that he will not attend today’s special session in parliament.