m. Kurz had left his position as Chancellor in October after the launch of a survey against his counter, while remaining at the head of the Conservative Party ÖVP.
Le Monde with AFP
Two months barely after his resignation of the chancery on suspicions of corruption, Sebastian Kurz, presented yesterday as “the prodigy child” of the Austrian politics, draws 35 years his reverence. “It’s a new chapter of my life that opens today,” he said to the journalists Thursday, December 2 in Vienna, saying to devote time to his family and his son Konstantin, born the week -End last. He also mentioned a new “professional challenge” in the coming months, without giving details.
m. Kurz had left his position as Chancellor in October after the launch of a survey against him, while staying at the head of the Austrian People’s Party (or ÖVP, for Österreichische Volkspartei, German), conservative, of which he also presided over the group. parliamentary. A meeting of the Federal Office will be held on Friday and “I will put my duties,” he said. “This decision was not easy to take, but despite everything I do not feel any bitterness,” added the ex-Chancellor.
He explained to have been “worn” by the recent charges of the prosecution, which he rejects and who “started his enthusiasm”. “I am neither a saint nor a criminal, I am a human being with strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
Scandals in series
The scandal broke out in October, when several places, including the Chancellery and the Ministry of Finance, were searched as part of a survey of suspicion of diversion of public funds between 2016 and 2018.
This alleged embezzlement was aimed at funding the release of falsified surveys and comprehensive media coverage for Sebastian Kurz in the media of an influential Austrian press group, Österreich. In exchange, the latter was rewarded by the purchase of lucrative advertising inserts, according to the parquet elements.
m. Kurz was the youngest head of the world when he acceded to the Chancellery at the age of 31. The coalition he had formed with the extreme right had collapsed in 2019 when his ally had found himself at the heart of a corruption case. New elections had allowed him to find his position until he resigned in October.
Clamant his innocence, Sebastian Kurz had asked a loved one, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Schallenberg, to succeed him. But in mid-November, Parliament had lifted its parliamentary immunity.
From the far right to the ecolos
Born in 1986 of a technician father and a teacher mother, the Viennese knew before this brutal fall a glowing career. He becomes Secretary of State at only 24 years old, even before having completed his curriculum. He is then appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs at 27, before becoming Chancellor in 2017.
It then owed its popularity to its opposition to the reception of refugees and promises of mass tax decreases for middle classes. At a prosperous Austria but destabilized by the migratory influx, the young officer proposes the closure of the borders. The burst of anti-immigration measures voted under his first term and his tense relations with the media have made him a clevant personality.
Sebastian Kurz has certainly claimed his pro-European convictions. But he rarely cropped the party of the freedom of Austria (or FPÖ, for Freiheitliche Parti Österreichs), nationalist, while the xenophobic provocations of the extreme right enjoyed the image of Austria with its partners. ‘European Union. In January 2020, the one whose politicalists greet the political instinct and the rhetorical talent, had associated with the Greens, a radical turn.