The Austrian’s extraordinary career could end with a corruption affair.
(Photo: imago images / SEPA.Media)
A new style – that was the central election promise of Austria’s Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. He was not only referring to the young, dynamic troop of his confidants, who were supposed to take over power in slim-fit suits and with a perfectly rehearsed communication concept.
The fact that the young conservative was able to sell the ÖVP, which has been in power for decades, as a hope for the future, was also due to the assurance that he would break with the old evils of Austrian politics: party quarrels, post haggling and corruption, which is typical of the country, euphemistically referred to as “friendship economy”.
This picture has been cracking for a long time. The scandal that is now shaking Austria is destroying it. The public prosecutor suspects Kurz and his closest circle of having bought the benevolent reporting of an influential tabloid with manipulated surveys and advertisements, and this at the expense of taxpayers.
Even if one does not assume that Kurz influenced the election as some political opponents accuse him, that is unacceptable. In order to make the young foreign minister chancellor, his loyal followers were surprisingly unscrupulous and saw the state as a self-service shop.
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The procedure is not only morally questionable, but possibly punishable. The judiciary accuses Kurz of being involved in infidelity and corruption, for which he faces up to ten years imprisonment. At the moment it is only an investigation, there can be no talk of an indictment yet. But the evidence presented by the public prosecutor’s office on over 100 pages is tight.
Greens could burst the coalition with Kurz
However, it is unclear how much Kurz himself knew about the alleged machinations. But he was the clear beneficiary, and it is also known how precisely he controls. Against this background, it is difficult to imagine that the Chancellor was not in the know. But it will not be easy to prove this to him unequivocally.
However, different standards apply to politics than just those of criminal law. It is therefore currently very uncertain whether Kurz will survive this scandal politically. The green coalition partner already had to bend arguments when investigations into false testimony against the Chancellor were initiated in May – a negligible crime in comparison.
It is difficult to imagine that the party will support a government if its boss should be accused of corruption, especially since the Greens have achieved little politically in this partnership, which has now lasted for a year and a half.
Austria is therefore facing extremely turbulent weeks that could well lead to the end of Kurz’s once so spectacular political career. That his own party will drop him seems out of the question for the time being. But if a government falls apart under his leadership for the third time in four years, he will find it difficult to find an ally again. For that, Kurz smashed too many dishes with his politics in the well-known style.
More: After the suspicion of corruption, Austria’s Greens question the coalition with Chancellor Kurz.