The dawn raid, among others, of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s office may be the nail in the coffin of Austria’s coalition government, as the conservative ÖVP rules along with the Greens.
It is suspected that Sebastian Kurz and nine people from his immediate circle paid the equivalent of ten million kroner in advertising grants to an Austrian newspaper as of 2016. They wanted the newspaper to report favorably on Kurz, who then tried to take over as ÖVP leader. The newspaper is also said to have published fake, taxpayer-paid polls about Kurz’s popularity.
The chancellor denies the allegations and claims that the prosecution is acting politically.
The three largest opposition parties He is now calling for his resignation. They got a certain hearing from the Green Party, the partner in alliance with the ÖVP. in a Statement written by Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler (The Greens) that Kurtz’s ability to operate is in question and that the country needs stability and order. Therefore, the party will invite the opposition to the meeting.
“We have a shared responsibility to our country,” Coogler writes.
https://twitter.com/WKogler/status/1446028350657638402
Sebastian Kurz has previously been accused of corruption and perjured before a parliamentary committee that investigated the strange appointment of a chief executive. In 2019, one of Kurtz’s closest friends became CEO of the powerful ÖBAG, the parent company of wholly or partly state-owned companies in Austria. Kurtz claimed he had nothing to do with the date. The messages exchanged between Kurtz and his friend give a different picture.
Several raids were launched on Wednesday. Among other things, several homes, the ÖVP party office, the Ministry of Finance and the chancellor’s office were searched.
Photo: HERBERT NEUBAUER
In the same year, another corruption scandal broke out, called Ibizagate. German newspapers then published videos from 2017 that showed how the leader of the right-wing populist FPÖ party and future Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache had a party in Ibiza with a young woman who was believed to be linked to a Russian oligarch. Strache offered public contracts in exchange for campaign assistance.
The scandal led to the downfall of the Kurz government. There were new elections, which eventually led to the ÖVP having to form a government with the Greens.
Read more. Lovisa Herold: Can anything hurt Austria’s ‘miracle’ Sebastian Kurz?
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