Kurz said he has worked “round the clock with his team” for the past decade, always enthusiastic and cheerful, but said in recent weeks “his enthusiasm has begun to wane” as a result of being bullied. corruption allegations against him.
“Of course I’ve made mistakes,” Kurz said of his 10-year political career. “I look forward to the day when I can prove in court that the charges against me are untrue.”
Kurz is being investigated over allegations that government money was used to ensure positive coverage in a daily newspaper, Austrian prosecutors said in October.
He led the ÖVP into government in 2017, in alliance with the far-right Liberal Party, which turned the refugee influx in 2015 into a ballot box winner.
He came to power just as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s grip on neighboring Germany appeared to be waning. He seems to want to scrap at least some of her welcoming approach to migrants and take the continent on a tougher path, despite frequently insisting on his support for the project. European Court.
He and his government lost a vote of no confidence in May 2019, following a corruption scandal fueled by a sneaky video of his deputy, Heinz-Christian Strache. But they returned to power after winning the general election in September of the same year.
