Kurz resigns as Prime Minister
Austrian Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz has resigned, NTB, Reuters and AFP news agencies report.
Kurz said that the country is more important than my person, who expressed his desire for the government’s cooperation between his conservative ÖVP party and the Green Party to continue without him.
The demand for Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz to resign increased in Austria after the country’s environmental crime unit attacked his office.
He was investigated in possible corruption cases related to the publication of advertisements and opinion polls in a newspaper. The suspicion is that the country’s finance ministry has inserted advertisements into the newspaper in exchange for positive coverage of Kurz and the conservative ÖVP.
Police searched several government party offices, the Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister’s office in Vienna.
– It is quite clear that such a person is no longer suitable to govern, said the parliamentary leader of the Green Party, Sigrid Mauer, earlier Saturday.
I asked the ÖVP to find another prime minister who could lead the current government, one with a clear reputation.
The ÖVP previously refused to replace Kurz.
In his Saturday speech, Kurz emphasized that the allegations were untrue, but stressed the need for political stability.
“Organizer. Social media geek. General communicator. Bacon scholar. Proud pop culture trailblazer.”