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Sebastian Kurz is no longer the Austrian Chancellor
Photo:
Helmut Fohringer / AFP
Infidelity, corruption, bought press: Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has plunged Austria into a deep crisis.
Now he has announced his resignation and proposed the previous Foreign Minister, Alexander Schallenberg, as his successor.
However, Kurz did not announce a complete withdrawal from politics.
He wants to remain ÖVP boss and also lead the parliamentary group.
The reactions at a glance:
The ÖVP coalition partner
Die Grünen
welcomed the resignation and agreed to meet with the possible successor directly.
"This means that we can continue the government work on the basis of the government program," said party leader and Vice Chancellor
Werner Kogler
after Kurz's statement.
On Friday, Kogler had declared the head of government no longer fit for office and called for his withdrawal - as a condition for the continuation of the cooperation.
If Kurz had not resigned, opposition parties would have tabled a vote of no confidence on Tuesday.
A few votes from the Greens would have been enough for a majority.
All
opposition parties
viewed Kurz's move to parliament as a legal and power-political move. "Sebastian Kurz fled to parliamentary immunity," said the head of the right-wing FPÖ,
Herbert Kickl
.
"What I said happened, the ÖVP will sacrifice Kurz as Chancellor in order to remain in government," said the head of the largest opposition party, the Social Democrats (SPÖ),
Pamela Rendi-Wagner
. "After 35 years, the ÖVP is not giving up this position of power because of Kurz." He was withdrawing, but the "turquoise system" would remain, she said. Turquoise has been the party color of the ÖVP since Kurz took over the helm. As chairman of the ÖVP, Kurz will continue to pull the strings in the background, said Rendi-Wagner. "He is no longer Federal Chancellor, but shadow Chancellor of the Republic of Austria."
The head of the liberal Neos,
Beate Meinl-Reisinger
, said that Kurz would continue to keep all the strings in hand.
As the head of the ÖVP, Kurz has far-reaching powers: he alone can determine the government team, the lists of candidates in parliamentary elections and the political line of the ÖVP.
Former FPÖ Vice Chancellor
Hans Christian Strache
also commented on Twitter: “Kurz resigned as Chancellor today & remains the decisive power of the Turks as ÖVP party and club chairman.
Kogler (Greens) likes this short ÖVP farce, supports it & really wants to continue to rule with the ›ÖVP shadow chancellor‹.
The conservative-green government under Kurz was sworn in at the beginning of 2020.
Before that, Kurz had ruled with the right-wing FPÖ from 2017 to 2019.
flg / kim / dpa / AFP