The Austrian ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is withdrawing from all offices and thus completely from politics. Kurz, who announced his resignation as Chancellor on October 9, then moved to parliament as a member of parliament, became club chairman (parliamentary group leader) of the ÖVP in the National Council – and remained party leader. Like the Thursday morning Kronen newspaper and the default reported, the 35-year-old is now withdrawing completely from politics.
The official reason for this is the birth of his son a few days ago; this ultimately “tipped the balance” and it “clicked”. In fact, there had been speculations about a change of the politician to the economy for a long time. Several trips abroad, including to Ireland, and his lack of visibility on the political stage in Austria supported these rumors. Kurz announced a personal statement for 11.30 a.m.
In addition to the birth of the child, the background for his decision is likely to be the investigations by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA), which have been going against Kurz himself and his close environment for a long time. On October 6th, police officers searched the house of Kurz employees, in the Chancellery and in the ÖVP headquarters and seized hundreds of pieces of evidence.
The WKStA is investigating the allegation that Kurz and his closest employees, by means of curdled surveys that a pollster commissioned and published in the media by the Fellner brothers, Austria and Oe24, presented, paved its way from the foreign office to the chancellery. The surveys are said to have been billed by bogus bills that the Ministry of Finance paid. Kurz and his team are therefore suspected of using taxpayers’ money to buy positive reporting and embellished bogus surveys for the ÖVP. In addition, the ex-chancellor and soon-to-be ex-ÖVP boss is also being investigated because of false statements in the Ibiza investigation committee. According to information from the Austrian media, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer is to follow as party leader.
Just a few weeks ago, parliament unanimously lifted the ex-chancellor’s immunity. Kurz himself and the party had supported the move in order to enable a quick clarification, as it is said.
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