Corruption scandal puts pressure on Austria’s ruling coalition

Vienna: The corruption investigations into Austria’s ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz and other politicians from the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) are causing rifts in the current coalition government.

The Greens – who are in coalition with the ÖVP – have warned that the scandal is affecting cooperation between the two parties. “Of course, the coalition is burdened by the actions of the

ÖVP and the persons who acted there, especially in the past,” said Green parliamentarian Nina Tomaselli on Wednesday.

Incriminating statements by Kurz’s former close comrade-in-arms Thomas Schmid to the prosecutor’s office became public on Tuesday. Schmid said Kurz had commissioned rigged and tax-financed opinion polls. Schmid’s extensive testimony, among other accusations, had ensured that the case “solidified into very hard evidence,” Tomaselli said. Tomaselli represents her party in a parliamentary committee of inquiry into alleged corruption in the former chancellor’s party, the ÖVP.(dpa)

– Ranjith Perera –