VIENNA — Austria’s president praised the “elegance” of the country’s Constitution on Tuesday, seeking to calm concerns as the crisis that has torn apart Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s right-wing coalition government accelerated on Tuesday, putting his future in doubt.
Mr. Kurz, who had sought an early election in September and is preparing to lead a minority government until then, now faces the prospect of a no-confidence vote that could eject him from power within days. A technocratic administration would then take over until elections could be scheduled, probably in June or early July.
The governing coalition, an alliance between Mr. Kurz’s conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party, began to unravel on Saturday, when a video emerged showing the far-right party’s leader discussing an exchange of favors with a woman claiming to be a Russian oligarch’s niece.
The days since have seen the once stable country rocked by political turmoil that could spell disaster for the ambitious young chancellor, once hailed as a rising star of Europe’s conservatives.
The Freedom Party leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, resigned as vice chancellor on Saturday, and Mr. Kurz called for early elections the same day. On Monday, he then called for the firing of the Freedom Party interior minister, Herbert Kickl, saying he could not rely on him to properly investigate the scandal surrounding Mr. Strache. In response, the party’s three remaining ministers submitted their resignations.
“These are confusing times,” President Alexander van der Bellen told reporters on Tuesday after meeting with Mr. Kurz. “We are charting new territory, but there is no reason to be concerned,” the president added, “for it is in times like these that the elegance and beauty of our Constitution is evident.”
Mr. van der Bellen, a former Green Party leader who narrowly defeated a challenger from the Freedom Party in 2016, said that he had accepted the dismissals and resignations of the far-right members of government, who were expected to be replaced by technocrats and civil servants until a new government could take power.
But that could now happen sooner than expected. Opposition parties have proposed a vote of no confidence against Mr. Kurz. The president of the Austrian Parliament, Wolfgang Sobotka, a member of Mr. Kurz’s conservative party, has scheduled a special session for the vote for Monday, the day after the country’s European Parliament elections.
Without the support of the Freedom Party, Mr. Kurz’s conservatives do not have a majority in Parliament. By appointing technocrats to fill the vacated ministries, the chancellor had said he could ensure the country’s stability by continuing to govern in the coming months, when key decisions at the European level are expected, following the election of a new European Parliament in Brussels.
Mr. Kurz is expected to propose experts who could take over the vacated ministries.
In seeking a no-confidence vote, Peter Pilz, the leader of the Jetzt, or Now, party, called for the entire government to be replaced with experts, a move that has the support of Austria’s Socialists, the leading opposition party in Parliament.
“In the past two years, Sebastian Kurz has brought down two governments,” Mr. Pilz wrote. “Stability in the current situation cannot be achieved through an election cabinet picked by Mr. Kurz, but only by an independent government.”
It was not clear whether the Freedom Party would vote against Mr. Kurz, but recent comments from Mr. Kickl may not give the chancellor much hope.
“It would be almost naïve of Kurz to think that after his distrust of us, we in the Freedom Party would not mistrust him,” he told the daily newspaper Österreich on Tuesday. “Mistrust is earned by those who mistrust.”
One minister associated with the Freedom Party remains in office: Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, an independent who was appointed by the party and attracted international attention last year for dancing with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
Ms. Kneissl said in a statement: “As an independent expert, I feel obligated to continue the course that I have charted for our country, especially now, and to continue to serve.”
The Freedom Party has longstanding ties to Russia and in 2016 signed a cooperation agreement with Mr. Putin’s party. Its members, including Mr. Strache, have been visitors to Moscow.
On the video, apparently filmed without Mr. Strache’s knowledge, and obtained and published by the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel and the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Mr. Strache could be heard praising Russia and Eastern Europe as “normal,” compared to what he called the “decadent” West. The New York Times could not independently verify the contents of the entire video.
Source : Nytimes
