He was a phenomenon and did everything well. Sebastian Kurz, a member of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), was a professional politician from 2010, when he joined the Vienna Municipal Council and Landtag at the age of 24. He has never worked in any other profession before and has never completed his law studies. In 2011, he was appointed Integration State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Home Affairs, and two years later, at the age of 27, he became the youngest Foreign Minister in Austrian history.
This period was probably the most successful of his political career. Initially, Kurz somewhat softened the tone of immigration policy poisoned by the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), and later he himself became an advocate of a tough course. During the refugee crisis, he implemented the closure of the Balkan route, first for his country and later as a single EU strategy. He still stresses that he has persuaded himself to reject the “wrong policy” of open borders.
Kurz met with Vladimir Putin seven times. In one of the books written about him, the former Foreign Minister talks about the years of relaxed atmosphere, four-person talks conducted in German, and a meeting in a room with a fireplace while it was minus 22 degrees outside. But Putin’s personality is not closer; Kurz calls him “very cool, disciplined, and always well prepared”.
The Chancellor’s Time
In 2017, Sebastian Kurz became Austria’s Chancellor at the age of 31. He was listed as one of ten “Next Generation Leaders” by Time magazine in the same year. On the day of his election victory, the German newspaper Welt described Kurz as a “conservative-liberal, European-minded politician” whose rise in many respects resembled that of President Emmanuel Macron. The closure of the Balkan route was a diplomatic masterpiece.
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The Ibiza affair marked the abrupt end of a remarkable career. The publication of a secretly filmed video, in which Heinz-Christian Strache, formerly deputy chancellor and FPÖ party leader, as well as Johann Gudenus, previously National Council member and FPO club manager, a supposed niece of a Russian oligarch, in a villa on the Spanish island of Ibiza, promise their readiness to corrupt and circumvent the laws on party financing, as well as to take over the secret control of party-independent media. The FPÖ ministers resign, and the government coalition breaks. At the end of May, Sebastian Kurz was removed from office. After new elections, Kurz will again be appointed Chancellor at the beginning of 2020.
The Allegations of Corruption
A year and a half later, in May 2021, an investigation against Kurz was opened. These are false statements under the duty of truth before the parliamentary committee of inquiry. Sebastian Kurz was supposed to have promised his close associate Thomas Schmid in 2017 that he would become the head of ÖBAG in case Kurz becomes the Chancellor. The public company ÖBAG, Österreichische Beteiligung AG, is a consortium of more than 20 companies with public shares totaling approximately EUR 22 billion. In the Ministry of Finance, Thomas Schmid, who is now testifying against Kurz, should be involved in bringing Kurz to power with partially falsified and funded polls.
Schmid actually gets the highest position in ÖBAG. However, the former chancellor denies his influence, as does the deliberate false statement before the committee. He says he would be “informed but not involved” about the occupation of posts. The prosecutor doesn’t believe him, but he has to prove his guilt. Against Kurz speaks, among other things, of the SMS with Thomas Schmid, where he writes, for example, “If you get everything you want” and Schmid answers with “I am so happy, I love my Chancellor”. Kurz resigned as Chancellor in October 2021 on suspicion of corruption.
At Home in Vienna as well as in New York
Currently, the former chancellor lives alternately in Austria and the USA, where he presents himself as a company founder and advisor to billionaire Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and the first foreign investor in Facebook. Kurz is active in Israel, and his area of interest is cybersecurity. He can be seen at social events in Austria, most recently at the Salzburger Festspiele. If he is acquitted, his comeback is also in question. It would be a huge victory for him and for the ÖVP.
