Government crisis in Austria: Kurz wants to keep the reins in hand

Once again there is an early end for Sebastian Kurz as Austrian Chancellor.

Unlike the Ibiza affair, this time it was not a video with scandalous statements by his coalition partner that brought the head of the Christian Democratic ÖVP into distress.

They were allegations directed against himself and against his closest political circle.

A raid in the Federal Chancellery, in the Ministry of Finance and in a party headquarters, that is also a novelty in Austria.

The advertising affair has become too Kurz 'Ibiza.

There were only very few votes from within his own party calling for his withdrawal. But he personally lost his government partner and with it the ÖVP the government majority. The Greens have made it clear that they would only continue the coalition with the ÖVP without a word, they demanded an “impeccable person”. In Kurz's opinion, this attribution no longer applied, and he was no longer “capable of acting” as Chancellor. 

Nevertheless, the Greens have kept a low profile on whether they would approve the opposition's vote of no confidence in the special session of the National Council next Tuesday.

They have expressly kept the option of continuing with the ÖVP under a different Chancellor than Kurz.

Because it is clear that in a large short-must-go coalition, the only realistic alternative, they would be able to implement significantly less of their program than in the government program that has been negotiated and only partially implemented.

The only question now is whether Kurz's “step to the side” is sufficient for them as a sign of purification.

So the ball lies with the Greens Chairman and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler.

Chats provide insight

Why did Kurz have to give way - at least for the time being?

The new allegations go back about five years.

At that time, as Foreign Minister, he was preparing to win the party leadership from the then chairman Reinhold Mitterlehner, then the Federal Chancellery, which was led in a grand coalition of Social Democrats.

It was obvious from the start that Mitterlehner was overthrown by an intrigue.

What is new is the view of the engine room, which the public prosecutor's office gained with the help of the cell phone of an inner-party Kurz ally and granted via the search warrant.

The chats support the suspicion that the top official Thomas Schmid misused the resources of the finance ministry, in which he held key positions, as a campaign fund for Kurz's struggle for party leadership and then the chancellery.

It is about counter-deals with a free newspaper and associated online media in which advertisements are said to have been traded against ordered reports.

Sometimes there were triangular deals in which ÖVP-affiliated pollsters are said to have been involved, possibly with souped-up figures.

And it is about alleged bogus bills in which the actual contributions to the short campaign are said to have been disguised as services for the Ministry of Finance.

The legal terms are infidelity, bribery, and corruptibility.

Kurz rejects allegations

Both Kurz and the media group in question have vehemently rejected the allegations.

Kurz had made three main points.

Firstly, his polls were good anyway, why should you have manipulated something?

That's roughly true, but doesn't disprove the chats that look like it.

Second, the events were in another ministry, he was only informed through surveys.

This is to be taken seriously in the legal assessment;

Before he can be proven that he was involved, Kurz must be considered innocent.

But he definitely bears political responsibility for Schmid's activities.

Thirdly, the placing of advertisements is common practice, Vienna alone (as the “red” federal state) spends more on it than the entire federal government.

That is also true.

It is scandalous that the Corruption Prosecutor has looked the other way up to now, even with the former SPÖ Chancellor Faymann, although there have been reports.

But that doesn't diminish any accusation against the ÖVP.

Kurz now wants to move to the back seat of the coalition vehicle in order to pull himself out of the line of fire of public criticism.

It is clear that from there, as party leader and presumably group leader of the ÖVP, he will continue to hold the reins in his hands.

But he is taking the Greens at their word that a continuation of the coalition depends on himself as Federal Chancellor.

In any case, if that works and the reformed government can go on, a big sigh of relief will go through the ÖVP.

In power almost continuously since 1986, participation in government is in their DNA.

Keeping them is even more important to her than briefly staying in the Chancellery on Ballhausplatz in Vienna.

Especially since people like to believe that he is innocent in the criminal sense and that he will be able to clear the allegations against the judiciary - only to come back then.