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18 May 2019The Austrian deputy chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, 49, resigned after broadcasting a video in which he was caught offering government contracts in exchange for political support. Previously the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, had ruled out further collaborations with Strache.

The leader of the far-right party FPÖ said: "I presented my resignation as vice-chancellor of Austria to Chancellor Kurz and he accepted this decision." The politician, visibly moved, announced the decision at a press conference in Vienna broadcast on TV.

Strache, a key figure of the extreme right in Europe, has reported that he was "victim of a political attack staged in secret" and for which "the newspapers have waited two years". "I resign - he added - to avoid further damaging the image of the government" of coalition with the Popular Party (ÖVP) of the chancellor, Sebastian Kurz.

Also away from the party guide
Strache has specified that, beyond that the role of vice-chancellor, he also leaves the guide of the FPÖ party that he directs from 2005, when he took the reins from Jörg Haider. He also denounced what he calls a "targeted political attack" and assured that he had not committed "any irregularities". The video was shot with a hidden camera in a luxurious villa in Ibiza before the 2017 legislative elections, a meeting in which a lot of alcohol was circulated and which seems to have been organized precisely to frame the extreme right leader. Strache spoke of "perfidy", pointing out that the meeting had not had any follow-up. What the resigning vice-chancellor has recognized is that he had "a typical macho behavior, caused by alcohol" and for this he apologized to his wife, the party and Kurz, saying he behaved "like a teenager "without checking his words.

5000 people in the square: early elections
New elections "and" resignation ", protesters waving EU flags are shouting protesters convoked by various groups with a tam-tam on social media. Around 5,000 protesters gathered in front of the chancellery building in Vienna to protest the affair that involved Deputy Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, police sources reported, began to gather in Ballhausplatz as early as last night, and the number grew over the hours. the office of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Statements by Chancellor and President
The picture is destined to become clearer in the evening. Kurz's declaration is expected at 7.45 pm At 8.35 pm, however, the Austrian president, Alexander Van der Bellen, will take the floor.

Earthquake 8 days after the European elections
It was a political earthquake in Vienna 8 days after the European elections. The storm in the majority of Austrian government was triggered by images taken with a hidden camera by Der Spiegel and Sueddeutsche Zeitung. They account for a meeting in Ibiza with a self-styled niece of a Russian oligarch, Aljona Makarowa, who offered to invest around 250 million euros to acquire shares in the Austrian press, in particular from the newspaper "Kronen Zeitung", with money in black unknown origin. "If you acquire the Kronen Zeitung three weeks before the election and put us first, we can talk about everything," Strache says in the video. The woman was actually a groomer and the encounter in Ibiza was a trap.

In the video documenting 7 hours of meeting, the Austrian vice-chancellor and his right-hand man Johann Gudens indulge in praise of Viktor Orban's system of controlling the press. Among the investment options proposed to the Russian one speaks also of financing the party the FPÖ - the vice-chancellor's party - with "questionable" forms of financing, that is passing through circles and associations in order to get around the Court of Auditors and the Austrian laws on party financing. Strache and Gudens had confirmed the meeting at Der Spiegel and Sz, recalling "an atmosphere of celebration and drinking".



Possible scenarios
At this point, two scenarios. Or a reshuffle, with the FPÖ replacing Strache with Norbert Hofer, Alexander Van der Bellen's challenger in the last presidential elections, or a return to the polls. Popular chancellor Sebastian Kurz could be tempted by this second hypothesis, also because the most recent polls give his party a steep rise.