Government crisis in Austria: Chancellor Kurz resigns

Corruption investigations against Austria’s Chancellor Kurz and his confidants had recently triggered a government crisis. Now the ÖVP politician announced his resignation – and proposed a successor.

Sebastian Kurz has announced his resignation as Austrian Chancellor. The ÖVP politician announced the move at a press conference.

Previously, corruption investigations against Kurz and his closest circle had triggered a government crisis. According to the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKSTA) in Vienna, Kurz and his colleagues are suspected of having bought positive media coverage with tax money.

Shortly remains ÖVP boss

Kurz did not announce a complete withdrawal from politics. He will remain the head of the ÖVP and will move to parliament as a parliamentary group leader, he said. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) should take over his office as Chancellor.

Shortly before, the Greens as coalition partners had denied their ability to act. It was therefore recently expected that the Greens would express their distrust in parliament together with the opposition on Tuesday.

Kurz calls allegations “wrong”

Kurz had rejected the allegations against him and his confidants on Friday evening as “plain and simple wrong”. Kurz repeated this statement in his statement today. And he added: “I would like the presumption of innocence to apply to me too.”

In his own party, however, support had recently crumbled. The Tyrolean Education and Culture Councilor Beate Palfrader was the first to publicly distance herself from Kurz: Instead of unconditionally standing behind Kurz, “it seems to me that it is more important, better and more correct to demand full clarification,” said Palfrader of the “press”.

Talks about the future leadership of the country have been going on for days, both within the ÖVP and among the parliamentary groups. According to information from the Austrian news agency APA, the Greens no longer ruled out cooperation with the right-wing populist FPÖ in order to be able to form a coalition without the ÖVP.