Close confidants of Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz are suspected of having misappropriated state funds for media manipulation. Now the coalition partner is also drawing conclusions.
The corruption allegations against Austria’s conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz have triggered a crisis in his government coalition with the Greens. “We can not go over to the agenda, the ability of the Chancellor to act is questioned against this background,” said the Green Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler in a statement on Thursday. On Wednesday, prosecutors searched the Federal Chancellery and the party headquarters of the conservative ÖVP, among other things.
Kurz ‘comrades-in-arms are said to have manipulated the media
According to the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKSTA), Kurz’s close colleagues are suspected of having bought cheap reporting in a media company in order to pave the way for Kurz to become party leaders and the Federal Chancellery from 2016 onwards. For this money from the Ministry of Finance is said to have been misappropriated. The investigators see in Kurz a participant in the crimes of infidelity and corruption. Kurz has denied all allegations.
“The impression is devastating,” said Kogler. The Green party leader announced talks with all parliamentary parties and with Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen. “We have to work together to ensure stability and clarification, and that is why I would like to advise on how to proceed across parties,” he said. On Wednesday, the opposition parties in parliament – the Social Democrats, the liberal Neos and the right-wing FPÖ – called for Kurz to resign.
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