Worn down by the judiciary’s investigations, frustrated by the forced retirement as Chancellor and revitalized by the birth of his son, the once celebrated as a “boy wonder” ends politics after a decade. The extent to which it can also succeed in the private sector will be followed with interest.
If his resignation is actually a goodbye for good, an amazing career will come to an end. Kurz was, for example, the youngest State Secretary, the youngest Foreign Minister, the youngest ÖVP chairman, the youngest head of government, but also the youngest former Chancellor. Ultimately, he stumbled upon his efficient, but at least not elegant, possibly even criminally relevant path to power in his party, which provided ammunition to a public prosecutor who was not necessarily friendly to him.
Video: Kurz steps back
Whatever Kurz intends to do now, the judicial investigation will not necessarily make his way into the private sector easier. He is accused in two cases, in the one of faked surveys for infidelity, and there are also investigations into false statements in the U-Committee.
The fact that Kurz had to leave as Chancellor because of this was due to the Greens, who were concerned about their anti-corruption image. How many enemies the longstanding voter magnet had made up to then was already evident from the fact that all other parties would have been willing to forge cooperation across all ideological boundaries just to get Kurz out of office. That doesn’t really have to be surprising. The SPÖ one day he terminated the coalition and the FPÖ did not fare any better in the wake of Ibiza and both times poker paid off with first place in the new election for Kurz. So old bills had to be settled.
Video: Analysis of the short retreat
Defiance phase shorter than with Kern
Kurz’s political defiance lasted much shorter than Christian Kern’s (SPÖ). Not everyone likes sitting in the parliamentary bench after you’ve been chancellor. In addition, the chances of returning to Ballhausplatz one day were significantly worse than after being voted out for the first time. Even in their own party, the backing had in some cases even crumbled in public.
In short it was no different from many other politicians before him. If the success is gone, the friends become rare and the power assigned to the chairman suddenly only exists on paper. It didn’t start out so promisingly in politics. In the JVP he was even sent away one day because they weren’t looking for any comrades-in-arms before he later became chairman of the ÖVP youth organization, which then served as the basis for his career.
Entry into the cabinet was not exactly triumphant
His entry into the cabinet was not exactly triumphant either. When Michael Spindelegger brought him to the State Secretariat for Integration at the age of 24, Kurz was sometimes showered with scorn well below the belt. But Kurz knew how to convince with objectivity, friendliness and what was then still a very liberal course. Unexpectedly, he quickly became atout the People’s Party and went to the Foreign Ministry, so to speak, in the waiting position for even higher ordinations.
Thanks to chats that have become public, we now know that he was a little impatient to make it to the top. The tone struck in it contrasts sharply with the “new style”, which Kurz and his loyal surroundings made into a success. His talent for ensnaring people with politeness had lost its weight, and the longing for Kurz to return as Chancellor was barely noticeable in the population recently.
In terms of content, the outgoing ÖVP boss ultimately didn’t leave that many traces. In terms of foreigner policy, the self-proclaimed keeper of the Balkan Route missed the larger ruling party on an even stricter right-wing course than had previously been the case. From turquoise-blue, there was little more major reform left than the amalgamation of the health insurance companies. The fact that he ultimately set an eco-accent through the coalition with the Greens was probably due more to strategic than personal conviction. In pandemic management, Kurz was flexible, like almost everywhere, and smoothly switched between lockdowns and laissez-faire.
Now Kurz is going where, he doesn’t say yet. A law degree that has been inactive for many years would still have to be completed. The family will also call and one or the other day on the mountain will probably end well. Even after a decade of short politics, there is not much else known about the private life of the protagonist.
Source From: Nachrichten
