Opposition calls for the resignation of Austria's Chancellor Kurz

Because of allegations of corruption, Austria’s Chancellor Kurz is once again at the center of investigations. The opposition advises him to resign, the green coalition partner questions his ability to act. Kurz does not want to draw any conclusions.

The prosecution’s allegations weigh heavily: breach of trust, bribery and corruption. Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his team are said to have used criminal methods on their way to power in the party and state and, among other things, bought positive reporting. Investigators arrived on Wednesday to secure materials in the Chancellery, the ÖVP headquarters, the Ministry of Finance and a media company.

The opposition is now putting pressure on the Chancellor. The unanimous assessment is that Kurz could no longer stay in office. “If he takes his responsibility seriously – and the political responsibility of a chancellor is a very, very big one – then he knows what to do now,” said SPÖ leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner

The chairwoman of the liberal NEOS sounds very similar: “It cannot be that our reputation abroad, but also people’s trust in politics in general, has been so shaken,” she said. She expects Kurz to resign. And FPÖ General Secretary Michael Schnedlitz also declares that consequences must now be drawn as quickly as possible in order to avert further damage to the country.

Coalition partner: “Do not move on to the agenda”

The Greens – they govern together with Kurz’s ÖVP – have not yet raised any demands for resignation, but they are obviously alarmed: “We cannot go back to the agenda, the Chancellor’s ability to act is questioned against this background. We have to ensure stability and Ensure order, “said Vice Chancellor and Greens boss Werner Kogler. The group leaders of all other parties represented in Parliament will therefore be invited to talks. In addition, an appointment had been made with Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen.

“There is no indication at all”

Kurz himself ruled out a resignation despite the demands and criticism of the coalition partner: There was absolutely no indication that he was personally involved in, for example, commissioning opinion polls that were favorable for him or in placing advertisements, he said on ORF: ” All of these allegations that exist are directed against employees of the finance ministry, “emphasized Kurz. The fact that surveys were manipulated in his favor is absurd because dozens of surveys in the period in question in 2016 showed very similar values ​​for parties and politicians.

A 1.1 million euro deal?

The focus of the allegations is the year 2016: At that time, Kurz wanted the ÖVP boss and replace Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner and take over the party chairmanship. The Kurz team is said to have bought positive reporting in a tabloid medium with tax revenue of 1.1 million euros, according to the suspicion. Kurz is said to have commissioned the then General Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Thomas Schmid, to make this agreement. This can be seen from chat logs.

The Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office writes in a communication that there is a suspicion that “between 2016 and at least 2018, budgetary funds from the Federal Ministry of Finance were used for financing were used exclusively by party-politically motivated, sometimes manipulated surveys by an opinion research company in the interest of a political party and its top officials. ” These survey results were published by the newspaper without marking them as advertisements. In return, payments were made to the media company.

With information from Clemens Verenkotte, ARD-Studio Vienna