• Investigated for corruption, Prime Minister Kurz resigns

  • Chancellor Kurz from President van der Bellen: "I will defend myself from false accusations"

  • Austria, Kurz investigated for aiding and abetting corruption

  • Prosecutor Vienna, Chancellor Kurz and his cabinet chief investigated for false declaration

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By Tiziana Di Giovannandrea

10 October 2021 Alexander Schallenberg, outgoing Austrian foreign minister, will be sworn in tomorrow 11 October as the new Federal Chancellor. The oath is scheduled for 1 pm. This was reported by the Austrian TV site Orf.



Schallenberg was proposed by Sebastian Kurz to succeed him, following his resignation on Saturday 9 October, resigned following the corruption scandal that engulfed him. 



An agreement was reached between the future Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg (OeVP) and the Greens to continue the coalition government, after the earthquake caused by the scandal that forced Sebastian Kurz to resign.



In a joint statement, Schallenberg and Greens leader Werner Kogler confirmed their willingness to continue working together at the end of a one-hour meeting in which only they were present. Kogler defined the meeting as positive, underlining that "a new chapter is opening in cooperation" between the two parties. The joint declaration states that "the many planned projects, such as tax reform and the budget, will go ahead as planned".



Schallenberg met with Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen. Prior to this meeting, Schallenberg said, according to the AFP agency that it is "a particularly difficult time and task, complicated for all of us", welcoming that his party was showing "an incredible degree of responsibility towards this. Country".



van der Bellen, "the government crisis is over" and thanked Kurz for his resignation: "He avoided damage to the country"


Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen said, in the evening, in a speech to the nation for the nomination as new Federal Chancellor of outgoing Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg: "This government crisis is over." 


In his speech, taken up by the local media, van der Bellen then thanked Kurz for having "avoided damage to the Republic" with his step backwards, while complaining that the trust of citizens in the institutions was "once again deeply shaken" and apologized with the nation for "the image that politics has given" these days.

Now, the Austrian president added, "the work for our country can go on", indicating the economy and the environment as one of the priorities to be addressed.