Despite growing pressure, the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz initially ruled out his resignation. Then he changed his mind. Foreign Minister Schallenberg is to be his successor – but a new political beginning looks different, commented the press.
A charismatic boy prodigy, friendly, calm, PR-savvy – that a person who is said to have these qualities almost plunged an entire country into a government crisis may come as a surprise. Yet that is almost exactly what happened. With embellished popularity ratings and advertisements, Sebastian Kurz is said to have influenced reporting with confidants and outmaneuvered competitors in the 2017 election campaign – all at the expense of taxpayers. So the charge.
The Austrian ex-Chancellor also rejected the accusations of the Economic and Corruption Public Prosecutor’s Office (WKSta) in his resignation speech to journalists. He is convinced that he can clarify the allegations. Why Kurz ultimately resigned, even though he had previously ruled out this step, is not entirely clear. Two versions are curating in Vienna: According to this, Kurz is said to have decided himself to resign and to make Alexander Schallenberg his successor. According to the second version, the ÖVP state chairmen are said to have spoken out on the phone to persuade Kurz to resign and fill the post with the current foreign minister.
Whichever story may be true in the end: The departure of the Viennese “Wunderwuzzis” is celebrated in the press. An overview:
“Der Standard” (Vienna): Sebastian Kurz did not resign entirely voluntarily, and he did not like to do so either. But political talent shows when you can turn unfavorable situations to your own advantage. Kurz has undoubtedly succeeded in making such a move on Saturday evening. By renouncing the Chancellery, which has few formal competencies in Austria, Kurz did not give up any power. As party and club leader, he will continue to rule the ÖVP ministers who are sworn to him. (…) (Kurz is) less vulnerable in his party functions and therefore less vulnerable than before. And if there are new elections, Kurz – and not Alexander Schallenberg – will again go into the field as the top candidate. Only a serious sentence or a defeat in the elections can end the Kurz era. Until then, the double former chancellor will be in control of the political situation more than ever.
“German wave”: Populism with Viennese shame and just within the limits of what was allowed seemed to be his special recipe. With a pinch of government-official incitement to foreigners and a dash of left-wing hatred, he was still a presentable model boy – crowned by almost magical success with the voters. (…) Sebastian Kurz took office in 2017 with the motto “Time for something new”. He only represented the old corruption in a new guise if the prosecution’s evidence now proves to be solid. With the step of drawing the conclusions and making his office available, he is at least showing some decency – after initially refusing to resign in the tone of offended innocence. (…) And as the next chancellor you should perhaps choose a serious politician, an adult with a little less charisma. Sebastian Kurz as a political magician is thoroughly disenchanted and shows himself to be an emperor who – on closer inspection – has no clothes on at all.
“Southgerman newspaper”: The picture that emerges from the chats that have become known shows a person who has no morals and values mean nothing. A politician who, with his helpers, prepared and implemented his political ascent without scruples. Kurz has already broken up two government coalitions: in 2017 the coalition with the SPÖ, two years later after the Ibiza video the alliance with the FPÖ. Now it was also clear to the governors and representatives of the economy: If they had left Kurz in office, it would have meant the break of the coalition with the Greens and the loss of the Chancellery – and with it access to posts and financial pots.
“Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung”: Kurz started with a clean image and the promise of a new policy for the divided and scandal-ridden republic. In the meantime, he had succeeded in triggering a longing for smart characters like him among conservatives all over Europe – including parts of the CDU in Germany. Now it is revealed that this oh-so-smart chancellor, who apparently single-handedly pulled the stuck ÖVP cart out of the mud, was above all an artist of illusions.
“Münchner Merkur”: The laws of political gravity also apply to political boy prodigies. Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian Icarus, has come too close to the sun and plunged deep into the shadowy realm of Viennese politics. The allegations that he and his helpers used taxpayers money to buy cheap surveys and praising press reports are so toxic even in the land of the famous “Freunderlwirtschaft” that nothing could stop the case, not even the abundant political successes. In Berlin and Munich, too, some will rejoice who have long had to annoy their more successful and popular Viennese colleagues. Kurz himself now has to hope that his Austrians will once again forgive him for the serious sin of his youth. Then a comeback cannot be ruled out.
“The New Day”: If there are proceedings against Kurz, it will take time for a final decision to be reached. The ex-chancellor could therefore remain a factor in the party he formed in recent years and in Austrian politics for a longer period of time. So some in our neighboring country are likely to have a few more sleepless nights ahead of them.
“Augsburger Allgemeine”: Sebastian Kurz and the system he created brought Austria to the brink of ungovernability, and his provisional flight to parliament does not change that. The massive corruption affair not only dwarfs the Ibiza scandal, it also reveals a deep, systemic crisis in the once tranquil Alpine republic. It should be a warning to conservative parties and politicians who would like to see “someone like Kurz” at the top all over Europe.
“Stuttgarter Zeitung”: Sebastian Kurz takes the job as club chairman in parliament, that is the parliamentary group chairman. This means that he can continue to pull the strings in Vienna as the “shadow chancellor”, as the chief social democrat Pamela Rendi-Wagner calls him. Kurz, with his very pronounced sense of power, is likely to see the situation in such a way that he now has the new Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg under himself.
“Baden Latest News”: Kurz has now fallen deeply, but has landed softly: despite his resignation, he hardly loses power, he remains ÖVP chairman and also becomes parliamentary group leader, without him nothing happens in the party. But as a passionate parliamentarian, he was never noticed, for him the parliament is just an extended workbench of government power. He finds himself in the company of Putin and Orbán. But Kurz is still young, he can still learn what Western democracy is.
“Handelsblatt”: The chats also paint a repugnant moral picture of a clique that, with its unconditional will to power, even waged a campaign against its own party. (…) Kurz will continue to lead the party and parliamentary group of the ÖVP, and the future Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg is a close confidante. So, for the time being, the conservatives’ puller will remain. Nevertheless, a return to the government or even to its top, which he and his loyal followers have promised, seems unrealistic. Should charges be brought, it will take years for the allegations against him to be resolved. Kurz will not return to the Federal Chancellery.
“Dithmarscher Landeszeitung” (Heide): Kurz has hoisted a confidante into the Chancellery, he will retain the party chairmanship and will also take part in the parliamentary group chairmanship. The 35-year-old does not seem to see his astonishing political career as over. As a puller in the background, gray eminence or – as the SPÖ puts it more clearly – “shadow chancellor”, Sebastian Kurz seems to want to work towards his return to Ballhausplatz. This can only work if the allegations against him and close employees are not true, i.e. no well-meaning reporting has been bought.