Corruption affair in Austria: exchange of blows in the National Council

After an initial arrest in the Austrian corruption scandal, the opposition in parliament sharply criticized the new Chancellor Schallenberg. The provoked with his reaction.

In connection with the investigation against ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), the business and corruption prosecutor’s office is said to have made an arrest in the morning. It is about the opinion researcher B., who collected the presumably paid from taxpayers’ money, embellished survey results for Kurz’s closest circle of advisors in the years from 2016 onwards.

This is reported by Austrian media, such as the daily newspapers “Die Presse” and “Standard”, citing judicial and government circles. There was a risk of blackout. The pollster deleted a large amount of server data from her computer before the house searches last Wednesday.

A deletion with an announcement?

At the end of September, the ÖVP’s vice general secretary, Gaby Schwarz, had specially invited to a press conference in order to explain in view of media inquiries about possible house searches in the ÖVP party headquarters: “I tell you: nothing will be found.” This was understood as an indirect warning to people to dispose of incriminating material before possible house searches.

In parliament, members of the opposition parties in the special session, which had been specially arranged after the house searches on October 6th, vehemently criticized the new Federal Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) and his predecessor Kurz.

SPÖ boss: Kurz continues to work as a shadow chancellor

“This current government reshuffle is a farce. Because there is someone who continues to pull the strings as the shadow chancellor, Mr. Chancellor, and that is not you. This is Sebastian Kurz,” said SPÖ leader Pamela Rendi Wagner. “The Kurz system continues to rule, and there is still a threat of chaos, instability, attacks on the judiciary and the rule of law. All of this will continue to be on the agenda.” Schallenberg must distance himself from the “Kurz system”. Before that there could be no new beginning for Austria.

Chancellor Schallenberg spoke at the beginning of the all-day special session: He held out his hand to the green coalition partner and parliament to cooperate. He will continue the turquoise-green government program in consultation with his predecessor, ÖVP chairman Kurz, said Schallenberg: “Of course, as Federal Chancellor, who will be appointed by the new People’s Party, I will proceed in close coordination with our Federal Chairman Sebastian Kurz . “

Parliamentary clatter with the search warrant

The final speech by Beate Meinl-Reisinger, chairman of the liberal Neos party, caused a scandal in parliament. She wanted to hand over the search warrant of the public prosecutor’s office to the new Federal Chancellor, who was sitting on the government bench, from which it emerged that the investigators’ allegations so far were not “false”, as Schallenberg had claimed after he was sworn in yesterday.

“Read it through and Mr. Chancellor, I’ll just give it to you now. The order for the house search, 104 pages,” said Meinl-Reisinger. “It is a moral image of the moral decline of the ÖVP. Just don’t throw it away like that. This is the independent judiciary and you have to respect and honor it, even as Federal Chancellor.”

Chancellor Schallenberg, who initially carelessly dropped the files on the floor behind him, later apologized on Twitter: It was not his intention to appear disrespectful by putting the files away. Ex-Chancellor Kurz, who was elected parliamentary group leader of the People’s Party yesterday evening, stayed away from the special session.