Despite the accusations, Austrian Chancellor intends to remain in office

JN/Agencies Today at 6:14 pm

O Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz this Thursday denied having committed any wrongdoing and made it clear that he does not intend to resign after anti-corruption prosecutors have announced he is the target of a bribery investigation.

However, Kurz’s governing coalition partner party said, this Thursday- fair, that the investigation created a “disastrous” image and raised questions about the chancellor’s “capacity for action.” The Austrian public revealed on Wednesday that they were investigating Kurz, nine other people and three unidentified organizations on suspicion of breach of trust and bribery, having searched the Chancellery, the Ministry of Finance and the Kurz’s criteria in the conservative Austrian People’s Party.

The case centers on accusations that Ministry of Finance money was used between 2016 and at least 2018 to pay for rigged polls favorable to Kurz and published in a newspaper without being identified as advertising. Kurz became leader of his party and then chancellor in 2017, having previously held the post of Foreign Minister of Austria.

In a separate case, anti-corruption authorities put the 35-year-old chancellor under investigation in May on suspicion of false statements to a parliamentary committee, an allegation he also rejected.

In a Wednesday night interview with the public television station ORF, Kurz denied responsibility for any wrongdoing related to published polls.
“There is absolutely no evidence that I have given orders as to which advertisements or surveys were commissioned by the Ministry of Finance”
, he affirmed.

According to the head of the Austrian executive, his messages from text does not contain instructions or requests “and, at the same time, the prosecutors spread the theory that everything is directed by Kurz”.

The chancellor said he was “very calm” about the accusations. “What I don’t understand is why I must always be guilty of all illegalities. Let’s look at whether these accusations against Ministry of Finance officials are true. With the best will in the world, I can’t imagine that,” he noted. .

Questioned as to whether he will continue to be chancellor despite these investigations, Kurz replied: “Yes, of course”.

The party of the Greens, the minority partner of Kurz’s coalition since he won a second term in early 2020, was far less relaxed.

Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler, who is also the leader of the environmentalist party, wrote on Twitter that “the image is disastrous” and that the charges must be fully clarified. “The chancellor’s ability to act is at stake in this context. We have to ensure stability and order,” Kogler declared.

According to ruler, the Greens are proposing talks with all other parties with parliamentary seats to discuss how to proceed.

The Austrian President, Alexander van der Bellen, has scheduled this Thursday and Friday meetings with Kogler, Kurz and opposition leaders. Kurz stressed that his party won the last two legislative elections and that he “defends” the Government he formed with the Greens, praising its cooperation during the covid-19 pandemic. “If the Greens do not want to continue this cooperation and want to look for others majorities in parliament, so it has to be accepted,” he declared.

Kurz’s first coalition with the Freedom Party, of the extreme right, it dissolved in 2019. The chancellor ended it after the release of a video in which he saw the then vice-chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, offering favors to an alleged Russian investor.

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