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Austrian chancellor set to lose no-confidence showdown
VIENNA, May 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was
set Monday to lose a no-confidence vote from MPs, which will see him removed
from office over a corruption scandal that brought down his coalition
government.
Norbert Hofer, chief of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), said Monday
that his party “will support” the motion, which is also backed by the main
opposition Social Democrats (SPOe).
The move comes just after Kurz celebrated a big win for his conservative
People’s Party (OeVP) in Sunday’s European elections, projected to gain 34.9
percent of the vote and two extra European parliament seats. It follows in
the wake of the so-called “Ibiza-gate” scandal, which saw FPOe leader and
Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache resign from both posts after he was
caught appearing to offer public contracts in return for campaign help from a
fake Russian backer.
That led to Kurz ending his coalition with the FPOe and calling early
elections for the autumn, but the opposition say the 32-year-old leader must
also take responsibility for the scandal.
The no-confidence vote is set to take place in a special sitting of
parliament later Monday, making Kurz the first chancellor in post-war
Austrian history to be removed in this fashion.
While the environmental Jetzt party is also expected to back the motion
against the chancellor, the liberal NEOS party said it would voting against
it to avoid further instability.
– Far-right setback –
The far-right, meanwhile, seemed to have suffered a setback in Sunday’s
vote over “Ibiza-gate”, falling from 19.7 percent to 17.2 percent and losing
one of their four MEPs.
The scandal erupted following the publication on May 17 of hidden-camera
recordings filmed in a luxury villa on the holiday island of Ibiza a few
months before Austria’s last parliamentary elections in 2017.
Amid a welter of embarrassing comments, Strache appeared to allude to a
scheme channelling political donations through FPOe-linked foundations in
order to avoid legal scrutiny.
After Strache’s resignation, Kurz also sacked FPOe interior minister
Herbert Kickl, arguing he could not oversee any possible investigation into
his own party’s wrongdoing.
FPOe ministers responded by walking out of the government en masse,
leading to Kurz appointing experts to take their place in an interim
government.
– Paragon of stability –
When he first became chancellor in late 2017, Kurz was widely hailed on
the European right as someone who could successfully tap into surging anti-
immigration sentiment while projecting a polished demeanour.
Since the crisis broke, he has projected himself as a paragon of stability
in a turbulent political climate, and analysts say this will be a key message
for him to use.
But even before the current crisis, Kurz found himself constantly having
to bat away criticism for alleged extremist sympathies among FPOe members.
The opposition has placed the blame for the current debacle squarely at
the feet of Kurz himself for having invited the far-right into government in
the first place, saying he had ample warning of the unsuitability of the FPOe
for government.
Kurz has trod a fine line in his statements since the crisis broke,
admitting he found the FPOe’s antics “hard to swallow” but insisting he had
no other choice.
“There was no other party which was ready to form a coalition with us,” he
told journalists on Thursday, when asked whether he regretted the coalition.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1436 hrs