When it comes to his career, Sebastian Kurz has no scruples. Now he is stepping down as chancellor. He will remain in power anyway.
Alexandra Federel Schmid
Sebastian Kurz has resigned as Federal Chancellor, and remains Shadow Chancellor.
Photograph: Georges Hochmot (AFP)
Sebastian Kurz was forced to retire as Chancellor of Austria, but he remained in power. As president of the club, that is, as the leader of a group in Parliament, he still has the leads on hand and can also take part in government meetings. In addition, he now enjoys parliamentary immunity. He also remains the head of his own party, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP).
With Alexander Schallenberg, he appointed a successor as his loyal advisor. The diplomat has no domestic political experience and does not work for the ÖVP – so Kurtz remains a shadow adviser. He could continue to determine the fate of Austrian politics and could return to his position as chancellor.
It was not insight that prompted Kurtz to step aside. He is still convinced that he did nothing wrong; The choice of one word or the other was exaggerated. Perhaps this meant the obscene names of his party leader and Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterleiner, whom the rookie Kurtz wanted to put aside by all means. The Prosecutor General’s Office suspects that this is also supposed to happen with the help of fake surveys paid for by the taxpayer. These are the criminally related charges of breach of trust, bribery and corruption.
Kurz was often admired in Germany
The most hidden party friends statements in chats are more related to politics. Here it turns out how Kurz, when he was foreign minister at that time, “ignited” the leaders of the state, as he himself put it. The goal: to block government plans, about a 1.2 billion euro package to fund afternoon care for children. Kurtz did everything unscrupulously to gain power. We have actively blown up government projects as a member.
For many people in Austria, Kurz thus became unbearable. The image that appears from the chats that have become known shows a person with no morals and no values that mean nothing. Politician prepared with his aides and carried out his political rise without hesitation.
Curtis’ remaining in power also prevents reconciliation with the intrigues that are now open. Government action can continue because the Greens’ request for a “flawless person for the Chancellery” has been met. But the system remains – including the very close relationship between politics and the media, which is not exactly conducive to enlightenment.
In Germany, too, the 35-year-old Kurz has been admired and celebrated in political circles and in the media: as a young conservative politician who wins elections. Now we know the means to do this. The figure of light became a shadow figure.
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